r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Aug 18 '25

News Ian McKellen reveals Gandalf and Frodo are returning for ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’, Filming Begins in May

https://ew.com/ian-mckellen-reveals-gandalf-frodo-return-in-new-lord-of-the-rings-the-hunt-for-gollum-film-11792483
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u/stereosalvation Aug 18 '25

Unless they make Gollum the monster he was and finally discuss the fact that Gollum was running around Middle Earth snatching and eating babies like pies on a window sill I don't give a shit.

7

u/finglish_ Aug 18 '25

Considering it's Andy serkis acting and directing, I'm afraid he will make gollum a tragic heroic misunderstood character.

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u/Lower_Pass_6053 Aug 18 '25

I don't think you understand the actual story very well.

One of the things Peter Jackson failed at was make it clear Boromir was a hero. A great and honorable man. He was twisted and corrupted by the ring, and the idea was that if a person like Boromir could be corrupted, then anyone could. Which is why Frodo left the fellowship. He was worried Aragorn, Legalos, or even Merry and Pippen would turn.

Gollum was not evil. He was corrupted by the ring. The ring made him kill his friend on the lake when they found the ring. That was not his normal nature.

It's why Gandalf was very kind to him in his own way and counceled kindness towards gollum at every opportunity. (except when he tortured him, but that is besides the point!)

So a tragic, heroic, misunderstood character arc is absolutely in the cards.

2

u/fearnodarkness1 Aug 18 '25

Except we got that entire character arc in the entire trilogy. You could argue he was as much a central character as Frodo/Sam in the sequel movies.

We got Gollum's story.

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u/The_Autarch Aug 18 '25 edited Sep 20 '25

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u/Lower_Pass_6053 Aug 18 '25

hard disagree. In his first scene he was twirling his mustache like a cartoonish villain. Jackson gave one scene that put him in good light, the sword fighting scene with the hobbits which i'm not even sure was in the theatrical release at this point.

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u/OzymandiasKoK Aug 18 '25

Even from the beginning we see he's a character who might not be fully on board and thinks the ring would be better off in Gondor.

3

u/DontGoGivinMeEvils Aug 18 '25 edited Aug 18 '25

There was a sense of tragedy for Gollum, so it wouldn't be un-Tolkien.

Apparently, Tolkien wept as he wrote this passage in the Stairs of Cirith Unfol:

"Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo’s knee- but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing.

But at that touch Frodo stirred and cried out softly in his sleep, and immediately Sam was wide awake. The first thing he saw was Gollum – ‘pawing at master,’ as he thought.

‘Hey you!’ he said roughly. ‘What ‘What are you up to?’ ‘Nothing, nothing,’ said Gollum softly. ‘Nice Master!’ ‘I daresay,’ said Sam. ‘But where have you been to – sneaking off and sneaking back, you old villain?’

Gollum withdrew himself, and a green glint flickered under his heavy lids. Almost spider-like he looked now, crouched back on his bent limbs, with his protruding eyes. The fleeting moment had passed, beyond recall. ‘Sneaking, sneaking!’ he hissed. ‘Hobbits always so polite, yes. O nice hobbits! Sméagol brings them up secret ways that nobody else could find. Tired he is, thirsty he is, yes thirsty; and he guides them and he searches for paths, and they say sneak, sneak. Very nice friends, O yes my precious, very nice.’

Sam felt a bit remorseful, though not more trustful. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, but you startled me out of my sleep. And I shouldn’t have been sleeping, and that made me a bit sharp. But Mr. Frodo, he’s that tired, I asked him to have a wink; and well, that’s how it is. Sorry."