In a new interview with Collider, ‘Lord of the Rings’ star John Rhys-Davies explained the conditions for a comeback for ‘The Hunt for Gollum.’
“Well, I’m known to not want to put that prosthetic on again, but out of deference to Andy [Serkis], whom I love and admire and again who has grown so much, if they invited me…” the actor said. “Oh god, could I dare to put on that make-up again and lose my skin?”
He added, “Maybe with CGI. Before when they asked me to do ‘The Hobbit,’ for instance, I said no. No, not at all. Times have moved on and technology has moved on, if I don’t have to spend eight hours a day for three years of my life in a make-up chair, I might indeed do it.”
Rhys-Davies was talking about the new live-action movie ‘The Hunt for Gollum,’ directed by Andy Serkis, who has played Gollum for over 20 years. The movie takes place during the time skip in ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ and focuses on Gandalf and Aragorn.
Many stars, like Elijah Wood as Frodo and Orlando Bloom as Legolas, have said they’d be open to returning. “Oh, man, those things are amazing. Yeah,” Bloom said about returning to the Tolkien movies. “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.”
The actor continued, “I really don’t know what [they are planning]. I did speak to Andy [Serkis] and he did say they were thinking about how to do things. I was like, ‘How would that even work?’ And he was like, ‘Well, AI!’ and I was like, ‘Oh, OK!’ It was a pretty magical time in my life, and it’s one of those things where there’s not a downside to it.”
Rhys-Davies hasn’t been asked to join ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ yet. The movie, set after Bilbo leaves the Shire, shows Gandalf studying the One Ring and Aragorn tracking Gollum. It will be released in 2026, but details are scarce. ‘The War of the Rohirrim’ will hit theaters on December 13.
