The Hunt for Gollum Trailer: Status, Cast and Release Date

No official The Hunt for Gollum teaser trailer has been released as of November 3, 2026. Variety Australia reported on July 15, 2026 that production had officially begun in New Zealand, with a US release set for December 17, 2027.

A film still in the middle of its shoot rarely has finished footage to cut, and a first teaser from Warner Bros. and New Line would normally follow once the studio has something to show. When one does arrive, the studio's official YouTube channel is where it should appear first. For release status, cast and rumors, see the hunt for gollum.

The Hunt for Gollum is a Middle-earth film built around the creature Gollum, with Andy Serkis directing and also playing him. Screen International reported the Serkis casting and directing role on May 13, 2024, and Variety Australia reported on June 16, 2026 that Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf and Elijah Wood as Frodo. No studio synopsis has been published, so the story itself is not described here.

The character's history in the earlier films shows why he suits a lead role. The prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring explains that the Ring passed through Gollum to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the Shire. The Return of the King opens with Déagol finding the One Ring in a river, and his cousin Sméagol killing him for it and slowly turning into the creature Gollum. In The Two Towers he tracks Frodo and Sam, is captured by them and agrees to guide them toward Mordor. In The Return of the King he guides them again while secretly planning to betray them. Serkis played him in all three, and Gollum is credited again in The Hobbit films' wider story through Bilbo's discovery of the Ring.

If you want the background, gollum has his own character page, the one ring explains the object he hunts for, and the lord of the rings timeline covers the wider chronology of Middle-earth.

Only two pieces of casting are firmly on the record: Andy Serkis as Gollum and as director. Screen International reported both on May 13, 2024, along with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens as producers. Walsh, Boyens, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou are reported as the writers.

Every other name is a report rather than a confirmation. Variety Australia reported on June 16, 2026 that the cast includes Ian McKellen as gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo, Lee Pace as King Thranduil, Anya Taylor-Joy as Seren and Leo Woodall as Halvard. McKellen played Gandalf in all six earlier Jackson films, and Lee Pace played Thranduil in the second and third Hobbit films, so those names continue established roles. Seren and Halvard are not characters from the earlier films.

Who is playing Aragorn? The same report lists Jamie Dornan as Strider, but it does not list a character named Aragorn. Strider is the name by which Aragorn is first known to the hobbits in The Fellowship of the Ring, though the report does not say who the character is in this film. Viggo Mortensen played aragorn in the trilogy and is not named in the reporting. Kate Winslet is reported as Marigol in the same Variety Australia item, which remains unconfirmed, and the reporting does not describe the character.

The film is directed by Andy Serkis and produced by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, according to Screen International. That makes it the first Lord of the Rings film to put Serkis behind the camera. Jackson directed every earlier live action film, from Fellowship of the Ring (2001) to The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), and Walsh and Boyens are the writing partners most closely tied to those films. Kenji Kamiyama directed the animated The War of the Rohirrim (2024), the only earlier film not made by Jackson.

Screen International reported on May 13, 2024 that Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema would produce the film in Wellington, New Zealand, which is the same city where Jackson's trilogy began principal photography on October 11, 1999.

Legolas is not among the cast names reported so far, and the reporting gives no reason. Orlando Bloom played legolas in all three Lord of the Rings films and in The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies, so his absence from the list stands out to fans. Variety Australia's list covers only reported names, so it could be argued that his absence from it is not a confirmed exclusion.

The cast does include Lee Pace as King Thranduil, the elf king who is Legolas's father in the Hobbit films, which is why the question keeps coming up. In my opinion, the safest reading is that nothing about Legolas has been announced either way.

The Hunt for Gollum is filming in New Zealand, with production based in Wellington. Screen International reported the Wellington base in May 2024, and Variety Australia reported on July 15, 2026 that shooting was under way in the country. A report syndicated on Yahoo the same day described day one footage on Weta's motion capture stage and a location shoot in the New Zealand mountains.

Motion capture is a natural fit, since Serkis's Gollum has always been a performance recorded on set and then built digitally by Weta. Hobbiton, near Matamata, and the New Zealand landscape were central to the earlier films, and middle earth map covers the places they depict.

The US release date is December 17, 2027, set by Warner Bros. and New Line. It has moved once: Variety Australia reported on May 9, 2025 that the film was originally slated for 2026 and was delayed by a year. The Motion Picture Association's The Credits blog reported the December 17, 2027 date in May 2025 as well. No UK or Australian date has been published.

The date sits in the same mid December window as most of the saga. The Fellowship of the Ring opened on December 19, 2001, The Two Towers on December 18, 2002, The Return of the King on December 17, 2003, An Unexpected Journey on December 14, 2012, The Desolation of Smaug on December 13, 2013 and The Battle of the Five Armies on December 17, 2014 in the US. The War of the Rohirrim followed on December 13, 2024.

The first trilogy was a large bet that paid off. The Fellowship of the Ring had a $93 million budget and earned about $898 million worldwide, The Two Towers earned about $945 million, and The Return of the King earned about $1.14 billion, with the third film winning 11 Oscars including Best Picture. The Hobbit films each cost $200 million or more to make: An Unexpected Journey had a $200 million budget and The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies each had $250 million, with worldwide grosses of roughly $1.01 billion, $959 million and $940 million. The animated War of the Rohirrim cost $30 million and earned about $20.8 million worldwide. For the full numbers, see lord of the rings box office.

The saga has seven released films, and each has its own page with cast, runtime and release details. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is fellowship of the ring (2001), the two towers (2002) and return of the king (2003), all directed by Peter Jackson. The Hobbit trilogy is the hobbit an unexpected journey (2012), desolation of smaug (2013) and battle of the five armies (2014). The animated spin-off is war of the rohirrim (2024), directed by Kenji Kamiyama.

For the full list see how many lord of the rings movies there are, and for the right sequence see lord of the rings movies in order. If you would rather watch than wait, where to watch lord of the rings lists the services for each film, and the lord of the rings movies hub links everything else.