Peter Jackson Once Pitched a LORD OF THE RINGS “Film 3.5” That Sounds Exactly Like THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM
It turns out that The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson had another Middle-earth story rattling around in his head years ago that he wanted to produce. It wasn’t a sequel. It wasn’t a prequel either. It was something in between.
A missing chapter that lived in the margins of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world. Nearly 25 years later, that long-abandoned idea sounds almost identical to what Warner Bros. is now bringing to life with The Hunt for Gollum.
The upcoming film is pulling directly from Tolkien’s appendices. That approach isn’t new for Middle-earth. Fans digging through the Extended Edition DVD commentaries for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring recently rediscovered Jackson and writer Philippa Boyens discussing what they casually referred to as a movie they would never make.
Jackson explained that the material they wanted to explore simply couldn’t fit inside the main trilogy. He said:
"There's great stuff in the book that we just couldn't put into the movie, and I've just always loved that when Gandalf leaves Baggins he goes and joins up with Aragorn, and the two of them hunt Gollum down.
“We've got this little remnant, which is Gollum being tortured, but we could never obviously do the bit where Aragorn and Gandalf track Gollum down. It's a neat idea, it would've been great to squeeze it in the film somehow."
That abandoned subplot is exactly the story that The Hunt for Gollum will tell. Gandalf and Aragorn tracking Sméagol across Middle-earth has always been canon, just never fully dramatized onscreen.
Jackson and Boyens even hinted that character relationships in the trilogy were quietly shaped by those unseen events. During the same commentary, they point out that Legolas and Aragorn clearly share history when they reunite, specifically because of what happened during the hunt for Gollum.
The audio clips have resurfaced thanks to The Mellon Head – The LOTR podcast, and they feel awesomly prophetic now.
Boyens also teased other untapped Tolkien threads that never made it into the films, including one that could easily fuel another spinoff. She singled out "Saruman's search for the ring" as a story worth exploring. If The Hunt for Gollum connects with audiences, that door may finally open.
The new film brings back Andy Serkis, this time wearing multiple hats as both star and director. He’ll be joined by Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood, while Warner Bros. has confirmed Aragorn will be recast to better align with the earlier timeline.
Serkis has already spoken about the pressure and excitement of stepping back into Tolkien’s world, saying:
"It is a phenomenal challenge, exciting and of course terrifying at the same time. We have a very specific task ahead of us.
“A return to Middle-earth that satisfies the passion and the love that generations of Lord of the Rings fans have for these stories, whilst also presenting something completely fresh and new for first-timers to Middle-earth, with one of Tolkien's richest and most complex characters at its heart."
What once sounded like a fun “what if” tossed around in a DVD commentary is now a full-scale studio project. Jackson’s 3.5 film is actually happening, and that’s pretty cool.
The release date is locked in for December 17, 2027.