Peter Jackson Breaks Silence on Surprise Return to Tolkien’s ‘Middle Earth’
As we reported last week , Peter Jackson is planning to return to Middle-earth with The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum . More than a decade after completing the underappreciated The Hobbit trilogy, which followed a decade of revolutionary effort on his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson is preparing to produce this new feature, which will center on one of the most renowned characters, Gollum.
The Hunt for Gollum is the first installment in Warner Bros’ new franchise expansion of the world of Middle Earth created by J.R.R. Tolkien, and in addition to the return of Jackson and writer Philippa Boyens. Andy Serkis, whose career skyrocketed following his portrayal of Gollum/Smeagol in the original Rings trilogy, returns – this time as director.
When it came to his decision to revisit the franchise, and choosing the film’s focus, Jackson told Deadline :
“The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature , whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic. I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us. We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films,” he continued “Andy [Serkis] was a joy to work with directing Second Unit on The Hobbit . He has the energy and imagination and, most importantly, an inherent understanding of the world of the story that is needed to step back into Middle-earth.”
The account of Aragorn’s search for Gollum is based on Tolkien’s Appendices to The Lord of the Rings , which specify where certain events occur in Middle Earth’s timeline. It is introduced near the beginning of the novel. While it is uncertain whether other characters will appear in the film, Jackson has stated that Gollum’s journey will bring him into contact with others from the story. It is probable that the plot will build on Gollum’s capture and torture by Sauron’s Orcs, which is depicted in a brief sequence in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Middle Earth is an almost certain moneymaker, so Warner’s decision to continue working inside the IP is not surprising. Tolkien fans can only hope this is an improvement over The Hobbit trilogy, and can probably rest assured it will be superior to Amazon’s dreadful The Rings of Power .
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