Major LOTR Recasting Update Will Make Hunt for Gollum Weird to Watch

The recent casting update regarding The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum may result in an awkward experience when watching the movie.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is scheduled to be released in United States theaters next year. The movie is directed by Andy Serkis, who will also be reprising his role as Gollum in the film. Serkis played Gollum in all three of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, while he also showed up in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Why might The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum be weird to watch?

At CinemaCon, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum received a big casting update. It was already known that Ian McKellen would be returning as Gandalf and that Kate Winslet would be starring in the movie; now, it’s been revealed that Jamie Dornan will be playing Strider, perhaps better known to Middle Earth fans as Aragorn, in the film. Aragorn was previously played by Viggo Mortensen in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Additionally, per Deadline, it’s now been confirmed that Elijah Wood will be returning as Frodo Baggins and Lee Pace is reprising his role as Thranduil. Winslet is playing a character named Marigol.

While it’s exciting that a new Lord of the Rings movie is happening, the mix of a returning cast and some brand-new faces might ultimately prove to be an awkward experience. Jackson’s trilogy is beloved and well-regarded by just about everyone, and many hoped that some of their fan-favorite characters would return in The Hunt for Gollum. We don’t yet know the full scope or story of Serkis’ movie; however, having so many people from the original movies return while there’s also a new Aragorn means we’re entering into some new territory here.

It’s entirely possible that the Aragorn storyline will all be flashbacks and Dornan won’t interact with Frodo or Gandalf; yet, if that does happen, fans are used to seeing Mortensen in that role, and there’s no guarantee that the same kind of magic will be recaptured with a new actor stepping into that role. Even if Dornan doesn’t have any scenes with McKellen or Wood, having such an iconic role being played by a new actor in a movie that’s full of familiar personas might make the experience a little jarring.

Perhaps Serkis is going for a The Godfather: Part II kind of effect, similar to how Robert De Niro played a young Vito Corleone in the past, while other things with the original cast are still going on in the present. The Godfather: Part II is a pretty high bar to hit, though, no? Are we confident that The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be able to match that level of quality? Because we’ve also seen it done not as effectively plenty of times.

We’ll find out what The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum truly has in store for fans when the movie arrives on December 17, 2027.