Lord of the Rings Aragorn star Viggo Mortensen speaks out on Hunt for Gollum return rumour

Earlier this month, Warner Bros announced The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

Produced by the original trilogy’s Peter Jackson, the new movie will be directed by the Sméagol star Andy Serkis himself.

Since the 2026 film’s announcement, fans have worked out the subtitle points to a Middle-earth storyline before the main quest of JRR Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Hunt for Gollum was when Gandalf the Grey had Aragorn search for Sméagol as the previous bearer of The One Ring, to find out more about it.

Ergo fans have been wondering if Sir Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen will reprise their much-loved roles.

Now Viggo has spoken out, telling GQ: “Sure. I don't know exactly what the story is, I haven't heard. Maybe I'll hear about it eventually. I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot. I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. I would only do it if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise.”

Given that the Aragorn star is now 65, he’d need to be digitally de-aged for the role, unless they recast him with a younger actor.

No word yet on if Sir Ian will reprise Gandalf, but since the 85-year-old did for The Hobbit trilogy we’d hardly be surprised.

On returning as Gollum once again, Serkis said: “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 filmmaking family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”   

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum hits cinemas in 2026.