The Lord of the Rings’ Andy Serkis comes home to Middle-earth ‒ and Gollum

Saturday, 11 April 2026

British actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis pictured at Stone Street Studios in Wellington’s Miramar.

A quarter of a century after he first stepped into Middle-earth, English actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis is back in Wellington - returning not just to the role that defined his career, but to a city he still considers a second home.

Now, he’s preparing to direct and star in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum - a new live-action film set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies. For Serkis, the project is helping reconnect him with long-time collaborators and a film community he says feels like family.

“I’ve spent so many years working here … it’s always a pleasure coming back. I’ve got such happy memories. My kids have spent a lot of time here growing up.”

While it has been more than a decade since the final Hobbit film was released, the fictional world of Middle-earth has never been too far away for Serkis.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, and after he participated in an all-in-one reading of The Hobbit for charity, Serkis was asked to record an audiobook version of the story for Audible.

With The Hunt for Gollum, Serkis says he and the film’s co-creators were interested in investigating the possibility of redemption for a character you’d judge as being irredeemable.

“The whole notion of prejudice and judging and being so polarised that you can’t see another point of view is something that the character [Gollum] brings out in whoever he comes into contact with.”

The character of Gollum, as played by Andy Serkis and pictured here in The Hobbit, is at the centre of a new The Lord of the Rings film that Serkis is directing in Wellington.

A full cast announcement is expected this month. Names linked to the project include Kate Winslet as the reported female lead character, plus reprisals of Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Serkis as Gollum.

Oscar winners Dame Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, plus Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (who co-wrote the animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim) will co-write the screenplay, with Sir Peter Jackson co-producing alongside Walsh and Boyens.

A second new Middle-earth film, The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, co-written by American comedian and talk-show host Stephen Colbert alongside Boyens and Peter McGee, is also in development.

Serkis is excited to again work with many of the team who were there the first time round ‒ now a little bit older, and with families of their own.

“It’s lovely to be back in an environment which is so creatively driven and so supportive of local talent, and just really draws on this sense of community in Wellington. It’s very galvanising. Going back into it again, there’s such a great energy,” he says.

In addition to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Serkis also filmed King Kong in Wellington, and also did work for the Planet of the Apes series here.

While Wellington had been through a tough period since the pandemic, over the course of the last year “it just feels like life is really flooding back into the place”.

Serkis says Wellington feels very much like his second home.

“Everything’s reopening, and there’s a real sense of optimism again. Now the film industry is picking up again. So I think it feels very positive at the moment. I could definitely sense when I came here after a long break, and it was just post-Covid, it had just sort of taken a bit of a battering, really.”

The production will have flow-on effects for local services, restaurants and other industries, he says, when “hundreds upon hundreds” begin working on the project.

Serkis last month visited CubaDupa, the free annual street festival held in and around Wellington’s Cuba precinct, and described the energy and spirit of the event and city as amazing, and reminiscent of the Wellington vibe he had fond memories of.

Created by English author, Oxford professor and philologist John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, who died in 1973, the high fantasy world of Middle-earth and all its various creatures and characters is “so thoroughly drawn” on many levels, Serkis says. As shown by the global re-release of The Lord of the Rings trilogy earlier this year, the stories still hold up remarkably well today, he believes.

Tolkien dived deep into the possibilities of empathy and redemption, in a polarised world that contained both good and evil, Serkis says.

“Within that, there is nuance. And none more so than in the character of Gollum, I suppose. I think people find great solace and comfort [in the stories]. The Tolkien world is not allegorical as such, but it sort of reflects modern values. It’s set in a world that allows you to escape, but at the same time [allows you to] look at who we are as humanity.”

Having directed films like Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and Animal Farm (2025), Serkis is excited to be in the director’s chair once again - and says he was both inspired and encouraged by Jackson to do so. He previously served as the second unit director on The Hobbit trilogy, which was directed by Jackson.

“There’s a generosity of spirit that comes from Peter ‒ a creative generosity, I think ‒ which has really encouraged other people.”

Still, taking on a new Middle-earth film is no small undertaking, with millions of new creative decisions to be made. “It’s vast,” Serkis says.

But he feels comfortable surrounded by such talented people ‒ as well as knowing the character inside out from his years spent playing it. “There are so many people who have got my back. I know that I’m totally supported here. So I’m really excited about shooting.”

That’s in spite of some saying the film doesn’t need to be made, after the key role of Aragorn (originally played by Viggo Mortensen) was confirmed to be recast.

“You take on the mantle, you take on the responsibility. And that is a big deal, because there are millions of people worldwide who cherish these films and stories.

“So of course, there is that weight, but at the same time, I feel I will deliver a film that I believe in, that I totally own, and will carry. And if people do not like it, you can’t really second guess. There will always be people who won’t like something.”

Serkis’ family will be periodically coming out during filming, including wife Lorraine Ashbourne, and children Ruby, Sonny and Louis ‒ all of whom are actors.

“They love New Zealand. My kids all spent time here growing up at various different stages. This time now they’re wanting to come back and do their campervan trips … It’s very cool.

“They’re all off doing their different acting jobs and so on, but they’re all wanting to come back, because they do feel this has been a huge part of their childhood and growing up.”

As for any production secrets, Serkis, who gave this interview via video link from Stone Street Studios in Miramar, says it’s all hush hush ‒ for now. “There’s so much speculation … and most of [it] is all wrong.”

But who might Wellingtonians soon bump into, which celebrities? Serkis offers a coy: “It’ll start to become very apparent.”

Filming for The Hunt for Gollum is due to begin later this year and has a December 2027 release date.