Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum’s New Aragorn Actor Officially Confirmed In Major Recasting

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Ian McKellen as Gandalf looking at Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King

Published Apr 14, 2026, 8:22 PM EDT

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is bringing theatergoers back to Middle-earth with a new Aragorn alongside a cast of familiar faces.

Warner Bros. has now revealed that the cast for The Hunt for Gollum will include Andy Serkis as Gollum and Sméagol, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Kate Winslet as Marigol, Jamie Dornan as Strider (the name that iconic LOTR character Aragorn is known by), Leo Woodall as Halvard, Lee Pace as Thranduil, and Elijah Wood as Frodo. Below, see an image of the casting announcement:

The Cast of The Lord of the Rings The Hunt for Gollum

In addition to confirming that Serkis, McKellen, and Wood would be reprising their original roles from the Lord of the Rings movies and that Pace will return after originating the role of Elf king Thranduil in the Hobbit movies, this announcement reveals that Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan will be stepping in for Viggo Mortensen as Strider. A week before the cast announcement, it was officially revealed that Mortensen would not be returning, though his replacement was unknown at the time.

As for the new characters joining the movie, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Halvard, the character played by The White Lotus and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy star Leo Woodall will be a Dúnedain Ranger "who is joining Strider on the dangerous hunt." It seems likely that the hunt in question is the titular hunt for Serkis' character, Gollum.

Details about Marigol, the character played by Oscar winner and Titanic star Kate Winslet, are currently unknown, though given the final three letters of the character's name, it seems possible that she is a member of Sméagol's family. While the Hobbit Samwise Gamgee (who was played by Sean Astin in the original trilogy) has a sister named Marigold, the differing spellings between the two characters' names would seem to indicate that they are unrelated.

It ultimately makes sense that so many Lord of the Rings characters would return for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. While the movie takes place before the events of 2001's The Fellowship of the Ring, it takes place during the life of the title character, during which time the majority of the characters from the original trilogy were active. However, it remains to be seen how the Hobbit Frodo figures into the story, as he has not yet embarked on the journey during which he meets Gollum.