{"id":1089729,"date":"2026-07-15T01:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1089729\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T01:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:02:17","slug":"lord-of-the-rings-hunt-for-gollum-starts-filming-with-set-footage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1089729\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Lord of the Rings: Hunt for Gollum’ Starts Filming With Set Footage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tProduction has officially begun on \u201cThe Lord of the Rings<\/a>: The Hunt for Gollum,\u201d with Warner Bros. releasing the first footage of Andy Serkis<\/a> back in character as the ring-obsessed creature.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe brief behind-the-scenes video<\/a> offers an early glimpse at Serkis on the film\u2019s set as he sifts through the script and asks a nearby production assistant, \u201cWhat are we gonna start with?\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUhh, Scene 1, the beginning,\u201d he responds. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s a very good place to start,\u201d Serkis says. <\/p>\n

\n\tWearing a motion capture suit, he then lowers himself into a spider-like crouch, hunches his shoulders and curls his lips into the character\u2019s famous feral snarl. \u201cAction!\u201d The teaser cuts to a cinematic drone shot of New Zealand\u2019s craggy mountains, where production is currently underway. <\/p>\n

\n\tSerkis is pulling double duty on \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum,\u201d directing the movie in addition to reprising his performance as Gollum, also known as Sm\u00e9agol. The film is scheduled to open in theaters on Dec. 17, 2027.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Hunt for Gollum\u201d reunites Serkis with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, the creative team behind the original \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d and \u201cHobbit\u201d trilogies. The standout ensemble also sees the return of Ian McKellen (as Gandalf), Elijah Wood (Frodo) and Lee Pace (King Thranduil), in addition to new cast members<\/a> Kate Winslet (Marigol), Jamie Dornan (Strider), Leo Woodall (Halvard) and Anya Taylor-Joy as an elf.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt couldn\u2019t be better,\u201d Serkis recently told Variety<\/a> about reuniting with his Middle-earth family. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just those guys who obviously I adore and love and have spent so many years working with, but the entire crew, practically from 25 years ago. So it\u2019s great. And there are generations of their kids too. So it is a big family affair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch the full teaser video below:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Production has officially begun on \u201cThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,\u201d with Warner Bros. releasing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1089730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[9289,77,7361,9287,16,15],"class_list":["post-1089729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-andy-serkis","tag-entertainment","tag-lord-of-the-rings","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-hunt-for-gollum","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116921299501002788","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1089730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}