‘The Lord of the Rings’ Team Has Ideas for More Movies

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn Elessar in director Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.’ Photo: Warner Bros.

Preview:

‘Lord of the Rings’ films writer Phillipa Boyens says they have ideas for more movies.
Anime effort ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ debuts next week.
Andy Serkis is busy developing a Gollum-focused film.

It’s surely a good time to be a fan of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ –– at least, the on-screen adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work.

Prime Video continues to bring us seasons of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,’ which chronicles some of the Second Age in Tolkien terms –– many years before the events of ‘The Hobbit’ and the main ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies.

And talking of the movies, which were produced and directed by Peter Jackson, we can expect future films from him and his collaborators in the future (more on that below).

That’s not all. In a new interview, Phillipa Boyens, who is a writer and producer on not just the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ movies, but also helped crafted the story for new animated spin-off film ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,’ talked up the possibility for other ideas coming to our screens.

What did Phillipa Boyens have to say about potentially more ‘LOTR’ movies?

‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ producer Philippa Boyens.

Boyens, who has been a key part of the ‘Rings’ movie team for years, sat down to discuss ‘War of the Rohirrim’ in particular and signaled that if the anime story is embraced by audiences, we could be seeing future stand-alone entries.

Here’s what she told The Playlist:

“There’s a lot of possibilities, when you look at it, there’s a lot of things in there, actually,” she said. “One of the things this ‘War of the Rohirrim’ story has shown us is that a stand-alone story works really successfully within the world of Middle-earth, and I would genuinely — because I’ve fallen in love with the form — love to see another anime. But that depends on the audiences out there, your audience, fans of not only the original trilogy, but that vast anime audience. I’m really interested to see what they think.”

Boyens also said that the ‘LOTR’ team has a wealth of ideas to work on, many stand-alone films, potential sequels to ‘War of the Rohirrim,’ and another, larger, more epic trilogy in the vein of the original ‘LOTR’ films.

Here’s her comment on that:

“So we’re in the audiences hands. If there’s an appetite for it, we’ve got more stories. There’s a ton of stories left to be told there and some really, really interesting ones. But my preference would be, after ‘The Hunt For Gollum,’ would be to look at those stand-alone stories. And then if we got really ambitious — there are some epic, particular stories that could translate into that more traditional epic trilogy format that was the original ‘Lord Of The Rings,’ the war of the rings story.”

Who is making the new ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies?

Peter Jackson, multiple Academy Award winner for his work on “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” poses with one of his Oscars in the press room during the 76th Annual Academy Awards from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 29, 2004. Credit/Provider: HO. Copyright: AMPAS.

Did you catch that mention of ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ in Boyens’ last statement? Yes, they are making more movies! Here’s what we know about that…

Chief among the new team is one Peter Jackson –– you know, the man who brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s stories of Hobbits, Elves and other creatures to pop cultural behemoth status with his original trilogy of movies and then the ‘Hobbit’ adaptations.

While it appears that Jackson is not currently planning to direct either of the new planned live-action films, he will be deeply involved in the movies’ development.

Working alongside him, as they have since the beginning, are collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who will write the scripts for the films.

And another key player in the ‘LOTR’ franchise, Andy Serkis –– who regularly squeezed into performance capture suits to play slinky Ring-coveter Gollum, is also back, and he’s aboard to direct the first confirmed movie, which is perhaps fittingly (working) titled ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’.

Serkis will also be getting back into his performance capture rig to star as the titular creature.

What’s the story of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’?

Andy Serkis as Gollum in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’. Photo: New Line Cinema.

Warner Bros. wouldn’t be drawn on specifics just yet, but let’s be honest… It kind of speaks for itself. And there is at least one section of Tolkien’s work that focuses on just such a search (Aragorn is the unlucky person tasked with tracking down the riddle-spinner).

What form exactly the new story takes remains to be seen, but it has already been adapted into a fan film and a card game.

As for the other movie? That’s even more of a mystery for now, but the studio has said it’ll dig into unexplored stories.

New ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies: The Creatives Speak

Peter Jackson accepts the Academy Award for Best Picture for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” during the 76th Annual Academy Awards from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 29, 2004. Credit/Provider: HO. Copyright: AMPAS.

Here’s Jackson, Walsh and Boyes’ statement on their return:

“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. As life-long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”

And here’s Serkis:

“Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle-earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our film making family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious… .”

When will ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’ be in theaters?

‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,’ which tells how the legendary fortress of Helm’s Deep (seen in ‘The Two Towers’) got its name during a clash between tribes, will be in cinemas from December 13th.

New Line Cinema’s and Warner Bros. Animation’s epic anime adventure ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.