Elijah Wood Remains Coy About His Involvement In The Hunt for Gollum, Says Multiple Rings Films On The Way.

Elijah Wood remains cryptic about his own return as Frodo Baggins

After being delayed for a year, Andy Serkis’ The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is officially headed to theaters in December of 2027.

The epic fantasy tale based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore detailed in The Lord of the Rings appendices, delves into the period between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, focusing on Gandalf the Grey and Aragorn’s quest to track down Gollum and prevent Lord Sauron from learning the whereabouts of the One Ring.

Filming is targeted to begin in New Zealand in mid-2026 after script finalization, along with location scouting, crew hiring, and initial casting. Details on the film remain tightly sealed; however, during a recent Fan Expo New Orleans panel moderated by ScreenRant, Gandalf himself, Ian McKellen, revealed some exciting news, saying that, “There’s a character in the movie called Frodo, and there’s another character called Gandalf, and apart from that, my lips are sealed,” strongly hinting that he and actor Elijah Wood would return to Middle-earth.

At the moment, only Serkis and McKellen have been confirmed to be officially reprising their roles, with the latter appearing to have accidentally announced his return. Fan favorite Viggo Mortensen will reportedly not be back as Aragorn, with auditions for a younger actor currently underway.

Wood stopped short of officially giving any information at the Fan Expo on his return, other than mentioning that he could “neither confirm nor deny.” And only that, “a wizard is to be trusted.”

“Aside from any of that, I’m not really allowed to confirm. I’m really excited about the film. I think it really is a creative ‘getting the band back together,’”

The Screen Actors Guild Awards winner also stated that a lot creative heads behind the original Rings films, along with Serkis, are back and in the fold again, including Peter Jackson and his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, producing.

“It’s very much that core original group getting back together to tell this story that will feel like a really fun exploration of this character that we all love so much. And I’m just really excited,”

Although it seems the actor is remaining coy about his specific involvement, if any, his excitement for the film has fans anticipating the eventual return of the beloved actor. However, the timeline of the film may have to involve flashbacks or framing devices because Frodo really isn’t central to Aragorn’s hunt for Gollum in the books. Serkis could choose to utilize that device which was used in the original Rings trilogy, with the older Bilbo Baggins played by Ian Holm portraying the older version and Martin Freeman cast as the younger Bilbo for the main events.

With McKellen back as Gandalf and Serkis as Gollum, it would be surprising to have a different actor playing Frodo. The bottom line here is that Wood said to trust McKellen’s words, thus hinting at a high chance that he will be returning.

That, along with his apparent excitement that Serkis is directing, stating he is “unbelievably excited” and “thrilled” for him, feeling that it’s “appropriate” for the actor who brought Gollum to life to direct a film centered on that character, only adds to the hint.

“I’m thrilled. It’ll be great. And I’m excited to see…I know their intention is to make other films in this universe. And that’s exciting, interesting to see where that goes, but very exciting.”

What he means by “other movies in this universe” is a little unclear, given the fact that The Hunt for Gollum is very brief and only consists of a few paragraphs or more of material in Lord of the Rings books, including all its Appendices. Based on all the material available the story itself could involve a number of locations, multiple characters, and potentially several skirmishes with Orcs. The early chapters of fourth book are littered with little hints of Gollum’s travels, although they offer little by way of new information.

Thanks to research by a user on Reddit we’ve found out that the idea behind a Gollum film has been floating around Jackson’s head for quite some time. He had originally planned for a “film 3.5,” or a sequel to his trilogy but didn’t move forward with the idea. You can watch the filmmaker in a clip below detailing his earlier ideas as part of The Lord of the Rings extras.

It will definitely be interesting to see where Jackson, Serkis, and company take this. One thing is for sure: the other movies won’t happen unless the first film is a monumental success. It’s also critical, in my humble opinion, that they bring back Elijah Wood as the Hobbit Frodo in some capacity. Anything less would be disappointing or even disastrous.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum enters theaters worldwide in 2027.