We’re months away from “The Lord of The Rings” making a grand return to the big screen with “The War of Rohirrim” galloping into theaters in December. But we’re now learning that “Lord of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum” from director Andy Serkis (who oversaw second-unit work on “The Hobbit” trilogy) not only won’t be a two-part story as previously suggested but producers/New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures are quietly developing a second but different live-action film as well.

The update hails from longtime franchise co-writer and producer Philippa Boyens, who explained recently to Empire Magazine that they’re not making two movies out of “The Hunt For Gollum.” Another film entirely is in the works and has yet to be officially announced by studio.

Boyens said, “I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films! “That was a genuine misunderstanding that happened because we’ve begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films. The first being ‘The Hunt For Gollum,’ the second one still to be confirmed.”

What that second film is going to be about and who will appear I’m sure is going to be speculated on until we get some concrete details from the studio and the producing team. We wouldn’t be all that surprised if Ian McKellen’s Gandalf would be involved, given the plausibility that his character will become the connective tissue for these next two films to the previous trilogies.

“The Hunt For Gollum” is expected to begin shooting next year with a tentative to-be-announced release date in 2026. The new film has a script penned by Boyens and Fran Walsh alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (the duo recently worked on “Rohirrim”).

“It’s quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines Of Moria,” Boyens explained about where “The Hunt For Gollum” takes place in the timeline. “It’s a specific chunk of incredible untold story, told through the perspective of this incredible creature.”

This likely means we’ll be seeing the return of the Nazgul as Gollum is tortured by Mordor’s faction, and it’s why the nine are led to the Shire to find the One Ring.

“Lord of The Rings: The War of Rohirrim” is heading to theaters on December 13.

SOURCE: EMPIRE MAGAZINE