Andy Serkis will return to his critically acclaimed role of Gollum in the newly announced Lord of the Rings film, titled The Hunt for Gollum. Serkis, not only returns as an actor, but he takes on the new role of director of this film. Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas in the original films, has expressed his interest in returning to the role.
If the actor’s wish comes true, Serkis has a chance to correct one mistake about Legolas’ character in The Hobbit trilogy. Peter Jackson steered away from the cheerful character in The Lord of the Rings to present him as a more serious and stoic character in the prequel series. This change did not sit well with fans.
Andy Serkis’s The Hunt For Gollum Can Possibly Bring Back Orlando Bloom’s Original LOTR Legolas
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is now greenlit at Warner Bros. and will likely explore the storyline involving Gollum and Aragorn from The Fellowship of the Ring. In this storyline, Gandalf the Grey tasks Aragorn with the challenging job of finding Gollum in the Middle-earth. Fans are already expecting Viggo Mortensen and Ian McKellen back in their respective roles.
Orlando Bloom followed McKellen in openly expressing their interest in returning to their roles in The Hunt for Gollum. Speaking to Variety, Bloom shared that he wasn’t sure how the makers were going to recreate the LOTR magic. However, he shared that he would be open to returning if Peter Jackson called him back to the role. Bloom shared with Variety:
Oh, man, those things are amazing. Yeah. I don’t know how they’d do it. I guess with AI you can do anything these days. But, if Pete [Peter Jackson] says jump, I say, ‘how high?’ I mean, he started my whole career.
If Bloom’s Legolas were to be brought back, fans want Andy Serkis and Jackson to correct one awful mistake that ruined his character in The Hobbit trilogy. According to Redditor u/CanISpeakToUrManager, Legolas was a light-hearted character in the LOTR trilogy. He often cracked jokes and seemed pleasant in his character.
However, when the character appeared in the prequel series, he was this serious and stern elf who never smiled through the trilogy. The Redditor also had issues with how the character looked CGI-made in the follow-up trilogy and was not at all impressed with this change.
Orlando Bloom’s Legolas character doesn’t smile a single time in the Hobbit Trilogy
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One Redditor tried to explain that Jackson was attempting to show Legolas’ character development from the prequel series to the sequel. However, other Reddit fans also agreed that this attempt did not work in favor of the character, who was loved by audiences in the original trilogy. Since The Hunt for Gollum is set during the time frame of the LOTR series, Serkis can easily bring Legolas’ old traits back from the original films.
The Hunt For Gollum Will Probably Be Based On One Adventure in The Fellowship of the Ring
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf the Grey sets out on a long quest to find out if Bilbo had the One Ring. The book mentions that Gandalf spent years looking for Gollum and recruited Aragorn to track down the creature. Aragorn almost gave up the near-impossible task before he found Gollum’s tracks in the Dead Marshes and caught the creature.
However, his real challenge began there — a long journey spanning well over a month to take him to Mirkwood for Gandalf to question him. Tolkien’s book detailed Aragorn’s journey using a single-paragraph excerpt where the character detailed this ordeal during the Council of Elrond. Aragorn narrates (via The Fellowship of the Ring):
He was covered with green slime. He will never love me, I fear; for he bit me, and I was not gentle. Nothing more did I ever get from his mouth than the marks of his teeth. I deemed it the worst part of all my journey, the road back, watching him day and night, making him walk before me with a halter on his neck, gagged, until he was tamed by lack of drink and food, driving him ever towards Mirkwood. I brought him there at last and gave him to the Elves, for we had agreed that this should be done; and I was glad to be rid of his company, for he stank.
Peter Jackson will serve as a producer of the film alongside his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The three executive producers expressed their excitement to be working with WB and Serkis. They shared in a joint statement, “It is an honor and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker — Gollum!” (via Variety).
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is now available for streaming on Max. The Rings of Power is now available on Prime Video.
