Lord of the Rings prequel movie The Hunt for Gollum is currently filming in New Zealand, and to celebrate Hobbit Day (which was yesterday, but we’ll give them a pass), Warner Bros has revealed a batch of first-look images, including a glimpse at the return of Elijah Wood’s Frodo.
The pics, posted to TikTok, show off the Hunt for Gollum’s bucolic Shire, which is of course home to Frodo and the Hobbits. Many fresh-faced Hobbits are pictured, as is Andy Serkis working behind the scenes. Most exciting of all, there’s also a fresh look at Frodo, about to open Bag End’s unmistakable front door. Though we can only see Frodo from behind, so we don’t know for sure that it’s Frodo actor Elijah Wood who is pictured just yet.
It all looks rather lovely, and coupled with the use of Howard Shore’s score, it’s tickling the nostalgia sensors in our brains. Recently, we also got a first look at Ian McKellen’s return as Gandalf, though that wasn’t a special reveal, but a message from the man himself to musician Troye Sivan, who asked McKellen to help narrate his new music video for the song “Party.”
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The Hunt for Gollum is set before the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and will see Jamie Dornan step in for Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in pursuit of Gollum. Alongside Wood, Serkis and McKellen, who return as Frodo, Gollum and Gandalf respectively, Lee Pace’s elf King Thranduil is also set to return from the Hobbit trilogy. New additions to the cast include Anya Taylor-Joy as Seren, Leo Woodall as Halvard and Kate Winslet as Marigol.
Filming kicked off in July and was marked with a behind-the-scenes teaser that concealed a “precious” message. While we wait to return to Middle-Earth on the big screen, we’ve got The Rings of Power season 3 to tide us over, which hits Prime Video in November.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be released on December 17, 2027. For more, check out our guides on how to watch the Lord of the Rings movies in order and our breakdown of The Lord of the Rings timeline.
