After his success as the character Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Andy Serkis has been preparing to not only star as the character once more but also direct the next big adventure.

It was in May 2024 when Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema officially announced the latest piece of work, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and ever since, the world has been ready. As filming for the project continues, Warner Bros. has just released footage from the set. In the clips, we are given the chance to watch Serkis, as director and star, transforming back into the titular Gollum. 

Motion-capture suit on, Serkis makes his way onto the set to begin the video. Seemingly, the footage begins on day one of shooting. To check in with his crew, we see Serkis ask, “What are we going to start with?”

“The beginning,” we hear back, and, as noted, it begins with him (Gollum). Serkis wanders in his suit onto the stage, crouches down, and calls action.

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Given all the advances in the industry, particularly in motion capture, since the last Lord of the Rings instalment, Serkis told Deadline in 2024 that he was excited to revisit this beloved character. 

“At that time, the motion capture technology back then was pretty much restricted to interior sets and it was just motion capture.” He continued and discussed how the Planet of the Apes films enabled technologies to evolve. Even James Cameron’s work with technology on the Avatar films helped advance motion capture to where it is now, in time for them to work on the latest Gollum adventure. 

What is known about the film’s story is that much of it has been developed from the appendices written by Tolkien himself. Set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, the latest film will follow Aragorn’s dangerous quest to capture Gollum before he has the chance to reveal the One Ring’s location to Sauron. 

Serkis has yet to reveal any more of the film’s plot. But in a recent interview with the BBC, he did tell them that “The hunt takes place in two different dimensions really and that’s about as far as I can say at the moment.”

View the director and star of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum as they direct and act in the footage from the set below.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be released in cinemas on 17th December, 2027.

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