Gollum in the Peter Jackson movies was portrayed well, but during the period The Hunt for Gollum is to be set in (probably), he was a straight-up baby-eating ghoul. It was Frodo's kindness that reawakened his memories of the hobbit-folk he once was. Gandalf, Aragorn, and even the Mirkwood Elves during that time are definitely going to be interesting to explore.

Ian McKellen has been saying for years that he wants to play Gandalf one last time before he dies. It wouldn't surprise me if he gets the job for one final huzzah. Also let's not forget the option of a buddy movie with Legolas since in the movie continuity he goes to find Aragorn at the end of the Hobbit movies.

So passes Tolkien, like so many others before it... We must away ere break of day, to recover our forgotten gold, the script was read, it mediocrity spread.

In the upper left is an image of Rivendell. I have a similar print of Alan Lee's watercolor version of Rivendell, and it signed by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Alan Lee. It is number 202/1000 and it has a clip of the original movie attached along with a placard for LOTR in the bottom center. It came with a gorgeous and ornate frame, and it is hanging on the wall of one of my spare bedrooms. I bought it from the LOTR Weta workshop using official channels during the LOTR film promotion over 20 years ago. It is one of my prized possessions!

Melon Geek, Excellent. Your view is the same as mine on this new movie. I hope and pray this studio is wise enough to go with the fans of Tolkien on this. So many facets that Tolkien only mentioned can be successfully dramatized in a wonderful manner. Namarie.

I would love to see Sir Ian McKellan back, and personally would find a different Gandalf a little jarring. Ian McKellan's Gandalf is one of the major threads that ties the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies together, and I think it would help tie this movie in with the rest of that material. I'm sure I could get over it and still enjoy a well-made movie if for some reason he can't do it, though, as long as they get the casting right. I think I'd have less trouble with a different Aragorn- casting the same actor who played the role 20 years ago for another movie that comes earlier in the chronology of the story is definitely tricky, especially with human characters. I'm also cautiously optimistic, and will undoubtedly see this movie when it comes out. Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis have both done great work in Middle Earth, and clearly have a lot more respect for and understanding of the source material than the Amazon showrunners, which is my main problem with Rings of Power, so as long as the studio doesn't get in the way too much, we could have a really good new adaptation coming in two years!

I'm not very optimistic, but I'm more than open, in fact begging, to be convinced. Here's my two cents. The biggest weakness I see in this movie is the story. I get why people will say that a familiar story is better, but I won't agree. The timeline places this film between the 2 Jackson trilogies and that means the movie will be lacking any kind of mystery about where its going and how it ends. And the whole concept is to interrogate Gollum for something that everyone already knows, that the ring is THE RING. This doesn't lend itself for a magnificent finale. Most of the main characters will also be recurring ones that we've already experienced their character arcs before AND after this film. So this film will have the difficult task of making something interesting out of them, as we already know where they come from and were they're headed, while not breaking the film lore. So this film kinda feels like a behind the scenes movie, which if done properly the fans will absolutely love, but also the ceiling is much lower than that of the 1st trilogy from the very beginning. Of course I understand that it's an opportunity to make a movie that includes the actors and writers from the original that are still alive, which I also love and agree with. Not only does it help with continuity, but they've already proven themselves in this IP, so who better. However, there's a big risk of failing to produce, while the returns (narratively, not monetarily) are greatly diminished. Plus, I also worry about some ages, but you already covered that, so I won't get into it. To wrap it up, this team has shown that when allowed to do things their own way, they can definitely deliver something great. That's the only reason I'm not doubting it from second one. However, even though I'm not a writer, I fail to see how the movie will be very interesting or how it will have a grand finale, when it's so restricted but what everyone already knows about these same characters and story plot. Even though I'd binge a fan service movie of high quality, I'm afraid that acknowledging this weak spot, they'll look to make something up to raise the stakes, which makes for a hit or miss situation.

My main concern would be that it would be difficult to give the story a satisfactory ending. Also that it might be closer to the Hobbit movies than the original LOTR films. In terms of casting, please no Orlando Bloom (or any other of the original cast) made to look younger by special effects, it just looks weird.

Embracer acquired rights from the Saul Zannetz co. Doing business as Middle Earth enterprises. Saul Zannetz got the rights from ( I think...) united artists who got it from Professor Tolkien in 1969. It does not include tv. Tolkien s estate offered tv to them and they turned it down for whatever reason, which is why Amazon was eventually able to get them.

Ian Mckellen wants to play Gandalf one more time. I say we do whatever we can to grant him his wish. If the film is bad, we will still have the original trilogy. I just hope it’s a good movie or at least at the quality of The Hobbit films. Something I can at least say I had a good time at the theater. I’m not expecting anything to ever reach the quality of the OG because nothing ever will.

I fear base treachery from Warner Bros. Unnumbered cashing in.

I am excited for anything involving the Dunedain! I think they will be included in this story. But man, I wish someone could get ahold of the rights to the Silmarillion. Some stand alone movies like Beren and Luthien would be amazing!!!

In addition to Serkis and Jackson there are 2 ladies who worked on LOTR scenario who are confirmed to be working on this Gollum project as well. So my cautious hope gets a little reinforcement

If it's as terrible as Rings of Power we ought to be very sad.

I was thinking to myself. That is weird, isn't there a Fan Film called by that name 😁 May he rest in peace and the eternal Light shine upon him

Why can’t Tolkien estate just sell the rights to the war of wrath with the stipulation that they would be able to pull the plug if it strayed too far

I don't suppose you heard but Warner Bros quickly took down the short film for "copyright", after leaving it for 10 or so years, they retracted their claim thankfully but the damage is done for me.

This movie will either be good or bad when it comes out. I'll care about that then.

First, he didnt hwve enough time and had "the board creeps of hollyweird" breathing down his neck. Secondly, The Hobbit was good only because the studio hollered for PJ to come and rescue them from Deltoro who put it into a flaming nosedive and ran away in the middle to do othrt projects, PJ is how we got Ian, how we got Cate, Hugo and even Ian Holm and WETA involved. And the lore teams from previous!

As long as they don't try to make a trilogy out of this story, it may be worth the attempt, but I don't see how compelling the story will be.

There just can'r be any character arc for Gollum or Aragorn for the story to work with. Aragorn can't meaningfully abandon his role as a Ranger and try and regain the honor of his race because he did it for the first time in the films, some 18 years after hunting Gollum down, so that Big Moment is sort of gone. And Gollum is already a lying sneak who has had a few truly heart-felt moments of relief from the ring's grasp, again within the films, so you can't have that again either. So, are we going to have a buddy film where Aragorn and Gollum reluctantly work together on some challenge so that they can then have a contrived "Sam and Frodo fall out" at the end or do we see Aragorn "reluctantly" handing him over to the elves?

I have my complaints about the Jackson trilogy, but the trilogy is great in its own right. However, let's not pretend that this new movie will probably be bad.

I don't have much interest in this, the whole premise sounds boring and I can't help but think that they chose this part of the book to "adapt" just because they know they can shoehorn many well known characters into this. Also, RoP kind of killed any hopes I had for future lotr related movies/series being any good.

I actually think Ian Mckellen would return but I don’t know if Viggo would he’s not really into franchises he only did Aragorn in Lord of The Rings because his son begged him to do it.

A suggestion for a video, if Tolkien Lore doesn't already have one on this question: How did Sauron and the Nazgul not know what or where the Shire was? The Shire seems pretty big on the map! Sauron had hundreds of years where he could've just been like, "Hey, why don't I read up on the complete geography of this continent I want to conquer." Do non-hobbits just have a different version of the maps of Middle-earth where the space where the Shire is just says "boring wilderness in Eriador, nothing to see here"? Even if it did, the Bree-men seem to know about hobbits and the Shire, shouldn't word of it and its location eventually get around everywhere?

Legolas will definitely be in the film :D Thats the only thing im certain about 100%

Warner Brothers/Embracer do not have access to The Unfinished Tales. The Tolkien estate is still holding onto them... For now.

I don't want to see any Smeagol. At this time he was 100% Gollum, a hungry ghost in the wilderness eating babies. Showing Smeagol in this film would cheapen Smeagol's real reawakening in TTT and RotK.

Again, while I agree with you that PJ’s choices in the original trilogy pertaining to character development for such notables as Aragon, faramir, etc certainly deviate from Tolkien, I think it’s a false equivocation of immense proportions to put those creative choices in the same universe as what Amazon has done to Sauron, Elrond, Galadriel, etc in the rings of power. It’s not even close.

I decided to answer this question after the the war of the rohirrim

I'm ust hoping that this is a single film thing and not a multi-film thing. People were upset by the new characters in The Hobbit (I've seen the Extended Versions now. Why would you give Alfred a semi-redemption if you're just going to kill him off?) but I can only picture the sheer amount of content they'd have to make up in terms of this if it becomes more than one film. I'm at least kinda hoping to see Glorfindel or Gil-Galahad appear if we're using un-used characters, but I feel like we're breeching the Fan-fiction zone here!

I am of the mindset "It sucks until proven otherwise". I have zero trust in today's Hollywood in transposing Tolkien and his mythological tone to the big screen. I think the best-case scenario is something like the Hobbit: a lot of stuff ranging between mediocre and awful, with some small sights of greatness. Happy to be proven wrong.

I just really really want a Pùkel-men movie. Is that too much to ask?

Amen

Really not interested in secondary media on the legendarium beyond role playing books. All the motion picture adaptations were very flawed. Why role playing books? Because I control what ends up at the table.

cant wait for it and its a great reason to watch LOTR again.

The answer is , it depends. Will it be a masterfully executed piece of storytelling, like TLOTR was, an absurd mess like The Hobbit was or an unmitigated disaster (and stain on Tolkien's work) like The Rings of power is? Only time will tell.

In today's world saying that the fans like something is generally a signal to the filmmakers to do something completely different..... Sadly😢

Why are more LotR movies necessary? This isn't a Marvel comic.

Here is the timeline for Gollum between Bilbo finding the One Ring and Gollum being imprisoned in the Woodland Realm: 2941 Bilbo meets Gollum and finds the Ring. 2951 Gollum turns towards Mordor. 2980 About this time Gollum reaches the confines of Mordor and becomes acquainted with Shelob.🕷️ 3001 Gandalf seeks for news of Gollum and calls on the help of Aragorn. 3009 Gandalf and Aragorn renew their hunt for Gollum at intervals during the next eight years, searching in the vales of Anduin, Mirkwood, and Rhovanion to the confines of Mordor. 3009-3017 At some time during these years, Gollum himself ventured into Mordor, and was captured by Sauron. 3017 Gollum is released from Mordor. He is taken by Aragorn in the Dead Marshes, and brought to Thranduil in Mirkwood.

I think casting of Aragorn will be a litmus test for this movie (because we know that Serkis and Jackson is more than capable of making a great or atlest enjoyable movie). Most likely Ian Mckellen will return as Gandalf, he was very vocal of his willingness during rings of power buzz and it would be very bad choice to not cast him especially if hes willing. Problem is Viggo, if they recast Viggo then this could be an open door for bigger changes down the pipeline such as we seen in rohirim anime Fréaláf Hildeson being a black guy (background of the character mentioned in a Philippa Boyens interview). I suspect we will see either irishman type deaging or lots fo makeup

If it was anyone besides the original Jackson/Walsh/Bowens crew plus Serkis, I'd absolutely expect garbage. With them, I'm still only cautiously hopeful (60/40) that it might be worth my time. But man, it would be really nice if they produced something good.

Another movie I cannot wait to ignore.

I intend to sit here, wait & see....

Disagree my man, the gollum parts.of the movies i fast forward threw. The other characters of the stories are way more interesting to me, BUT There is a lot of story to see in this movie , so hopefully it's awesome and I'm down

I feel quite good about the ability of Jackson and Co to make a good film so long as the studio gives them the leeway to do so. The people who are shouting that no one wants this are spouting nonsense. They clearly don't want it but neither they or anyone else knows what the movie going public will decide it wants mere days after the announcement. Does the Embracer Group have the rights to 3rd Age portions of Unfinished Tales? My understanding was the rights they acquired were only for LOTR and The Hobbit. I'd love to see the hunt for the Ring included as well but I don't think they have the rights. I suspect the primary characters in the movie will be Gandalf and Aragorn. I'm don't know if people will be that interested in a movie that focuses mostly on Gollum. Trying to recast these character would be a perilous exercise in itself. With the advances in de-aging technology, they could use Ian and Viggo and have them appear as when they were younger.

I loved the LOTR films, for all their faults, and I think Andy Serkis did an amazing job, but I don't want to see Gollum again either.

The Hobbit 4: The Strider and Baby Gollum: Episode One ...hijinks galore as this whacky CGI couple buddy up to fight the evil Harfoots...

I'd certainly rather see re-cast Gandalf and Aragorn than de-aged ones. Hey Daniel Weyman and Charlie Vickers were pretty good as the equivalent characters in Rings of Power (despite the idiotic storylines), just a thought. Spot on about the Hunt for the Ring material in Unfinished Tales. As a comparison, the Hobbit film (one of them) had a scene with Gandalf meeting Thorin in Bree. That is only in Unfinished Tales, 'The Quest of Erebor', not the shorter version in the Prologue. So perhaps PJ can work out how to use the story-structure, while (for example) avoiding direct quotes. My advice is to hire Simon as a consultant, it might pay dividends.

Jackson made LOTR and he ascended, 9,5/10. But then came the Hobit 1-3 and I had enough.

Why all the talk about Embracer? Isn’t New Line releasing this film?

Who is the embracer group?

I doubt Viggo will return

Who would play sauruman? Chris Lee RIP.....

What if Viggo plays Gandalf?

No

Viggo could play arathorn? Or was he dead

A Gollum movie? Haven't they seen the crapfest that was the Gollum game?

When was the last time PJ did anything noteworthy? Hmmm, RotK 21 years ago. After that he ruined the Hobbit. How is anyone putting faith in Peter Jackson.

My question is will they make Aragorn a lesbian _as well_ as a woman?

They will insert cheesy love interests and Mary Sue's and bash the male characters like in the Hobbit trilogy, the upcoming War of the Rohillirm and the Rings of Power. Is there hope for good ME content. Those cringe moments were barely tolerable in the LoTR trilogy. Sure, there is always hope. Oh wait, but this isn't ME....

maybe don't watch hello future me's video, its gets very political and rant-y near the end, and he accuses multiple politically neutral youtubers of being essentially political click bait

Three movies? About Gollum? Mark my words... this is going to fail hard.

Total meh

Beren and Luthien as a gay couple movie

They have to recast, and the recast will be horrible.

I'll watch anything with Serkis' Gollum in it. The Hobbit movies were doomed from thee start, but the Gollum scene was good. I wonder whether they will use some de-ageing tech (which is getting quite good) or recast the other roles