Anya Taylor-Joy is the latest heavyweight to lace up boots for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. It is a film by Andy Serkis, who also reprises his role as Gollum. This is a casting announcement that is going to ruffle some feathers in Middle-earth.
Taylor-Joy’s Casting
Taylor-Joy will play Seren, a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm. She is a lethal operative of King Thranduil, with Lee Pace reprising the role. He is accompanied by Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Elijah Wood as Frodo.
The film is set between The Hobbit series and The Lord of the Rings series. It sees Aragorn and Gandalf searching for Gollum. They want to learn more about the One Ring that threatens to destroy Middle-earth. It all adds up to Seren being a perfect fit for a back-room agent in that kind of espionage narrative.
Taylor-Joy joins an impressive group of fresh faces in the franchise. These notably include Kate Winslet as Marigol, Jamie Dornan as Strider, and Leo Woodall as Halvard.
Taylor-Joy has already appeared in two other Warner Bros.’ flagship franchises. She appeared as a wolf-whisperer and princess, with her roles in Furiosa and Dune. She is currently one of the millennial heavyweights to ping for big-budget genre work.
Taylor-Joy next appears in Apple TV+’s Lucky, followed by Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three. Her 2027 looks like it is already swamped.
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Zane Weiner are co-producing. Reuniting the Oscar-winning team that produced the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. The fact that the movie has the core production group on board gives it some heft from that perspective.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is scheduled to premiere in theaters on December 17, 2027. It will be released with Warner Bros. and New Line.
More Lord of The Rings
Stephen Colbert is also writing a second film with Boyens and Peter McGee. It has a working title of The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past. The movie will follow The Hunt for Gollum and does not have a director yet.
The six theatrical Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies made close to $6 billion at the global box office. This occurred over the past two years. Warner Bros. is clearly making a bold bet on the return to Middle-earth with Taylor-Joy in the mix.
