The Lord of the Rings is arguably one of the most successful film trilogies ever made. It made billions at the box office. It won Academy Awards. It’s almost universally praised as one of the most successful adaptations of a popular work ever made. It’s not a shock that there have been attempts to reignite that success, both with additional films and now prestige TV series. Even Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson was unable to repeat that success, and yet, he’s apparently going to try again.
This morning Warner Bros. announced two new Lord of the Rings films are on the way, with some outlets reporting the first one is set to debut as soon as 2026. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt For Gollum (a working title) will see Peter Jackson return to produce the film, alongside longtime partners Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens. Walsh and Boyens are also writing the screenplay, while Andy Serkis is on board to reprise his role as Gollum and direct the film.
Needless to say, everything in the preceding paragraph falls into the “things I never thought I’d write category.” It’s not a shock we’re getting new Lord of the Rings movies. That was a guarantee, but the idea that Peter Jackson would return to the franchise, and in such a major way as to produce two more movies, is more than a little thrilling.
On the one hand, a return to Middle-earth that includes Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens is wonderful news. Those three people brought us the original Lord of the Rings and an absolute labor of love that was massively successful because such work was put into it. At the same time, the trio also brought us The Hobbit movies which were…not treated quite as well.
The big question is how are these new movies going to be treated. Various outlets are reporting that this movie will arrive in 2026, likely in December, and that would mean the movie will need to be done in less than 18 months, and based on the information released by WB, the script isn’t done yet.
To be fair, the WB info also doesn’t give the 2026 date, so it may be that the quick turnaround is not the plan. As a fan, I certainly hope that’s the case. if this movie is going to happen, we can only hope it will be given the attention that the Lord of the Rings was given that made it so good.
More to come…