One of the most electrifying moments of this year’s CinemaCon was the announcement of the cast for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis and Lee Pace will once again take us on a journey to Middle-earth, reprising their roles as Gandalf, Frodo, Gollum and Thranduil. Kate Winslet will join them as Marigol, Leo Woodall as Halvard and… Jamie Dornan as the new incarnation of Aragorn.
This isn’t the only upcoming project expanding the cinematic universe based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. In March 2026, Warner Bros. revealed that The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past movie is in the works, with the script written by Stephen Colbert – comedian, The Late Show host, and Tolkien enthusiast.
As a Tolkien fan myself, I’d love to be excited about the fact that the world he created is again finding its way to the big screen. However, looking at both projects, I’m only surprised at how dull they feel.
This, basically, makes The Hunt for Gollum fan fiction
The Hunt for Gollum, set between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, is inspired by the story Gandalf tells Frodo in the first volume of the saga. In the novel, this is nothing more than a footnote – just a wizard recalling years spent tracking down Gollum, in the hope of getting information about the Ring.
Working out a two-hour blockbuster from it means that filmmakers will have to construct the story practically from scratch. This, basically, makes The Hunt for Gollum fan fiction rather than an adaptation of Tolkien’s work.
What’s worse, the story, at its core, is missing any kind of suspense. How on earth are we supposed to care about it when, after six features and two seasons of the Amazon series, we know perfectly well what the Ring is and how the whole thing ends?
The Stephen Colbert-written film appears only slightly better.
Shadows of the Past is based on the opening chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring, which didn’t make it into Peter Jackson’s adaptation. And sure, when I first watched the film, I felt a twinge of disappointment that it didn’t feature the hobbits’ gothic adventure in the Barrow-downs or the encounter with Tom Bombadil.
However, making a standalone film based on it 25 years later isn’t exactly thrilling. Especially, since the logline for Shadows of the Past sounds like the description of your average B-class fantasy, teasing hobbits recalling Frodo’s quest and Sam’s daughter Elanor discovering a “long-buried secret”.
I just can’t get my head around why Warner is adapting footnotes and anecdotes when there’s a vast, fascinating Tolkien universe waiting right around the corner.
At CinemaCon, another announcement caused quite a stir – the first film set in the Game of Thrones universe. Aegon’s Conquest will take viewers back 300 years before the events of the main series and depict the famous invasion of Westeros by the House Targaryen. There will be characters never before seen on screen and new stories.
George R.R. Martin’s universe is a goldmine of great tales and colourful characters, and Warner is making excellent use of it. With House of the Dragon, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and now, Aegon’s Conquest, the studio is expanding the world in various directions. So why, when it comes to Tolkien, is Warner forcing us to dwell on the already well-known stories?
The studio’s executives dream of squeezing a Marvel-like franchise out of Middle-earth but are too afraid to cast their net deeper into Tolkien’s world.
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Of course, Tolkien’s works, complex and rich in detail, and at the same time full of symbols and ellipses, don’t translate easily into blockbusters. Truthfully, they’re better suited for Robert Eggers-style arthouse fantasy or, going back in cinema history, Sergei Parajanov’s folk-based, oneiric tales than for Hollywood tentpole movies.
The Hobbit and The Rings of Power gradually chewed the writer’s world into an over-saturated pulp
Peter Jackson did a pretty good job of bringing The Lord of the Rings to the screen (though Tolkien would certainly be critical of LOTR in many ways), but The Hobbit and The Rings of Power gradually chewed the writer’s world into an over-saturated pulp.
In 2026, Middle-earth needs a new, bold vision – like the one Dennis Villeneuve brought to Frank Herbert’s Dune, or David Lowery to the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Certainly, it doesn’t need nostalgia-exploiting cash-grabs with iconic characters being strategically recast (sorry, Jamie Dornan).
Tolkien loved to pore over his universe, but he didn’t go round in circles within it – he knew that, to remain alive, the tree of a story must constantly sprout new branches and leaves. I’d be grateful if Warner adopted this approach as well.
In an era of reboots, AI slop, algorithm-driven content, and skin-deep aesthetics, Tolkien stories could be a rich source of compelling, unique narratives brimming with passion and poetry. It’s just time to let Frodo, Gandalf and Gollum go, setting the stage for new heroes and their stories. Courage, Warner, courage for our friends.
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