Warner Bros. is set to release a new Lord Of The Rings film in 2026, featuring help from Peter Jackson.
The news of the upcoming film arrived earlier today (May 9), during a conference call about Warner Bros. Discovery’s first-quarter earnings, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the meeting, CEO David Zaslav revealed that the company is “now in the early stages of script development” for a new batch of Lord Of The Rings films, which will “explore storylines yet to be told.”
The first of them has the working title Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and, as the title suggests, will centre around Andy Serkis’ Gollum.
Peter Jackon, the filmmaker behind the original trilogy, will be producing the movie alongside Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh, and is expected to be “involved every step of the way” according to Zaslav. It is set to be released in cinemas in 2026.
At time of writing, the project is currently in early stages of script development, and is being worked on by writers Walsh and Boyens, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. Serkis is expected to return to his iconic titular role, and will also be taking on the role of director.
He, along with Ken Kamins and The Imaginarium’s Jonathan Cavendish, are listed as executive producers.
News of the new LOTR projects arose last year, when Warner Bros. announced that studio leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy had made a deal to create “multiple” movies based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novels.
According to Variety, the films are going to be developed through WB label New Line Cinema, and Freemode – a division of Embracer Group – who made the adaptive rights deal for books including The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit under Middle-earth Enterprises.
In a statement shared today, De Luca and Abdy said: “For over two decades, moviegoers have embraced the Lord of the Rings film trilogy because of the undeniable devotion Peter, Fran and Philippa have shown towards protecting the legacy of Tolkien’s works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honours his literary vision.
“We are honoured they have agreed be our partners on these two new films. With Andy coming aboard to direct Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, we continue an important commitment to excellence that is a true hallmark of how we all want to venture ahead and further contribute to the Lord of the Rings cinematic history.”
Jackson, Walsh and Boyens added: “It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker — Gollum! As lifelong fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”
Finally, Serkis also shared his own statement, which read: “The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our filmmaking family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”
The first entry in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, was released in 2001. This was followed by The Two Towers and Return Of The King in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
Since their release, the films – which starred Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler and more – have collectively grossed almost $3billion globally. The follow-up trilogy based on The Hobbit went on to match those figures.
The franchise made the transition to TV with Amazon’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power in 2022. A second season went into development last year, and is predicted to arrive towards the end of 2024.
In other LOTR news, last summer it was reported that the soundtrack for The Lord Of The Rings trilogy had been voted the best film music by the UK public – beating out competition from John Williams’ scores for Schindler’s List and Star Wars, which placed in second and third respectively.
