Andy Serkis' Lord of the Rings Prequel Movie Officially Casts Kate Winslet in Key Role

2 weeks ago 17

Published Mar 11, 2026, 1:06 PM EDT

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

Kate Winslet has been in three billion-dollar-grossing films, and now it looks like she's going for a fourth. She's signed on to star in the latest installment of the big-screen Lord of the Rings franchise, The Hunt for Gollum. She's set to return to New Zealand to film the potential blockbuster, which is slated to begin filming there in May.

According to reports, Winslet will play the female lead in the film; no other character details have yet been released. She'll be joined by franchise stalwarts Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, and Andy Serkis as Gollum; Serkis is also slated to direct, taking the reins of the franchise from Peter Jackson, who will produce the film. It won't be Winslet's first trip to New Zealand; she broke out as a teenage murderess in 1994's NZ-set and shot Heavenly Creatures, which Jackson directed. Nor will it be her first experience with big-budget film-making; 1997's Titanic was the first movie to gross over a billion dollars at the global box office, and she's recently starred in two block-busting Avatar sequels.

What Is 'The Hunt for Gollum'?

The Hunt for Gollum is both a sequel and a prequel; it takes place after The Hobbit, and before The Lord of the Rings. It will center around the desperate plight of Gollum, the onetime hobbit reduced to a slavering wretch thanks to years of exposure to the corruptive power of the One Ring, as he flees his pursuers, who wish to know the Ring's location. Those pursuers include both the agents of the evil Sauron, who want the Ring to turn Middle-Earth into a domain of darkness, and the heroic Aragorn, the heroic ranger and future ally of the Fellowship. While Aragorn was played by Viggo Mortensen in Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, a new actor is being sought to portray the character in his younger days. The film will be an expansion of footnotes and background information written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Hunt for Gollum is written by Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou. It will be produced by Jackson, Boyens, Walsh, and Zane Weiner, and distributed by Warner Bros.

The Hunt for Gollum will be released in theaters on December 17, 2027. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.