• Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse Studios has confirmed it’s making an open-world Middle-earth RPG
• The Prague-based studio announced the project on social media but has shared no story details, characters, or release window
• Embracer Group CEO Phil Rogers confirmed the game on a post-earnings call, alongside a second new Kingdom Come title
• The Lord of the Rings IP will become part of Embracer’s newly formed Fellowship Entertainment division, set to list in Stockholm in 2027
• The announcement arrives as Middle-earth is having a genuine moment, with new films, a Stephen Colbert-penned movie, and Rings of Power Season 3 all in the pipeline

The dream of a truly great open-world Lord of the Rings game just got a lot more real. Warhorse Studios — the Prague-based team behind the critically acclaimed Kingdom Come: Deliverance series — has officially confirmed it is developing an open-world RPG set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, ending months of swirling speculation about what the studio had planned next.

The announcement came through the studio’s social channels with characteristic understatement. “You might have heard the rumours, it’s time to reveal what we are working on,” Warhorse posted on X. “An open world Middle-earth RPG. A new Kingdom Come adventure. We’re excited to tell you more when the time is right.”

https://x.com/WarhorseStudios/status/2057008469920624696

That’s essentially all they’re saying for now — and the “when the time is right” caveat makes clear that a full reveal is still a ways off. No characters, no story details, no release window, no gameplay footage. Just the confirmation that it exists and that the studio is excited about it.

That’s enough, honestly. The reaction has been immediate.

Why Warhorse Makes a Lot of Sense for This

Warhorse isn’t a random pick for a project this significant. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 launched earlier this year to strong reviews and won the BAFTA award for Narrative — a serious credential for a studio being handed one of the most beloved fictional universes ever created. The franchise has also sold over five million copies in its first year, according to Embracer’s own financial reporting. These are developers who know how to build dense, historically grounded worlds with real weight to them.

Warhorse communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling put it plainly on LinkedIn: “Just thinking about one of the biggest and most beloved IPs in the world being developed here in Prague is honestly mind-blowing.”

Embracer Group CEO Phil Rogers confirmed the project on a post-earnings call, and added that Warhorse is also working on another entry in the Kingdom Come franchise — meaning the studio is apparently juggling two major projects simultaneously. Rogers did not specify a development timeline for either game.

The Bigger Picture: Embracer’s Middle-earth Play

This announcement is also a piece of something larger happening inside Embracer Group. The company confirmed it is planning one more corporate spin-off, with the Lord of the Rings IP and Kingdom Come: Deliverance — alongside other major franchises — set to become part of a newly formed division called Fellowship Entertainment. That entity is slated to list on the Stockholm stock exchange in 2027. Embracer has also flagged plans to explore additional partnerships across its portfolio of properties, which includes Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, Saints Row, Red Faction, Thief, and TimeSplitters.

In other words, the Lord of the Rings isn’t just a game project for Embracer — it’s a cornerstone of a whole new entertainment division.

When and Where Could This Game Be Set?

Here’s where things get genuinely interesting for fans, because Middle-earth’s timeline offers an almost overwhelming number of options — and none of them are obviously wrong.

The War of the Ring is the most familiar territory, but it comes loaded with problems. Frodo has to carry the Ring. Aragorn has to become king. Sauron has to fall in a very specific way. A player-driven story set during those events would constantly be bumping up against canonical outcomes, which limits creative freedom considerably.

The Second Age — the era that Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has been exploring — is arguably the most epic option. Númenor, the forging of the Rings, Sauron’s rise as a political manipulator before he became a full dark lord. It’s enormous in scope. The risk is that Rings of Power has already put that world in front of a mass audience, and any game set there would immediately invite comparisons — and would have to navigate some of Tolkien’s most fixed historical events.

The Fourth Age, set after Sauron’s defeat, offers the cleanest creative freedom. The great war is over, the Ring is destroyed, and a new era is beginning. New characters, new conflicts, no Fellowship to work around. The downside is that it could feel untethered from the franchise’s most iconic beats.

The era that arguably makes the most sense for an original RPG, though, is the Angmar conflict — the fall of the northern kingdom of Arnor under the Witch-king’s assault. It has a villain players already understand as important, a sprawling geography of ruined kingdoms and fractured peoples, and just enough distance from the main story that a new protagonist could genuinely matter. Players could be a Ranger, a survivor from one of Arnor’s broken kingdoms, or simply someone caught in the slow collapse of the north. No Frodo to replace. No Aragorn to compete with. Just an original story set in a world fans already love.

Warhorse hasn’t hinted at any of this yet, of course. But given the studio’s track record of building richly detailed historical worlds with morally complex characters — and their clear comfort with settings that aren’t the most obvious choice — it’s hard not to speculate.

Middle-earth Is Having a Moment

The timing of this announcement isn’t incidental. This might genuinely be the best moment in years to be a Tolkien fan. Andy Serkis is returning to direct The Hunt for Gollum. A Stephen Colbert-penned film, Lord of the Rings: The Shadow of the Past, set in the Fourth Age with Sam’s daughter Elanor, is in development. Peter Jackson told Deadline at Cannes that the Tolkien Estate is warming to the idea of potentially opening up rights to previously restricted material like The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales — which would unlock the First Age of Middle-earth for adaptation for the first time. And The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 is set to premiere November 11, 2026 on Prime Video.

A major open-world RPG from the team that just won a BAFTA slots into that landscape like it was always supposed to be there.

Warhorse says they’ll share more “when the time is right.” Given everything else converging around Middle-earth right now, that wait might be shorter than it feels.

The post A Middle-earth RPG Is Coming — But Details Are Scarce appeared first on Cream.

• Peter Jackson says Todd Phillips’ Joker — specifically its deep dive into Arthur Fleck’s psychology — inspired the approach to The Hunt for Gollum
• The film, directed by Andy Serkis, is set between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and follows Aragorn tracking Gollum on Gandalf’s orders
• Jackson is producing but deliberately stepped back from directing, believing Serkis knows the character better than anyone
• The story draws from the appendices of Tolkien’s novels, covering Gollum’s childhood, his addiction, and his eventual capture in Mordor
• The Hunt for Gollum hits theaters December 17, 2027

Peter Jackson has a pretty unexpected touchstone for his return to Middle-earth — and it involves Joaquin Phoenix in facepaint.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who is producing The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, told IndieWire that Todd Phillips’ 2019 origin story Joker served as a key inspiration for the upcoming film — specifically the way it burrowed deep into a character’s fractured psychology while still telling a coherent story.

“We were thinking about the original Joker film, the one with Joaquin Phoenix,” Jackson said. “The way that explored the Joker’s psychology while it was telling a story. We’ve got the story that’s in the appendices, and we’ll tell that story, but we’ll tell it from an internal Gollum perspective. You’re taking written things by Tolkien and filming them from a certain POV, and that means you have to get inside his head.”

Then, with a laugh: “I’ve got no particular desire to get inside Gollum’s head. Andy Serkis can do that himself.”

What the Film Is Actually About

Set in the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Hunt for Gollum follows Aragorn, tasked by Gandalf to track the creature down before Sauron can learn from him the location of the One Ring. But the film’s emotional core runs deeper than a chase story.

Jackson explained that the source material comes from the appendices tucked at the back of Tolkien’s novels — fifty or sixty pages of notes, backstory, and side narratives that never made it into the main text.

“The Lord of the Rings has got these big appendices at the end,” he said. “Little side stories, embellishments, enlargements — and part of The Hunt for Gollum is described in that. Gollum’s childhood and how he became what he was. Him trying to get to the Shire, and the Rangers tracking him down. He ends up being captured and taken to Mordor — it’s all in the appendices.”

The production is legally cleared to adapt anything from the Lord of the Rings books, Jackson confirmed — a meaningful distinction given the complicated rights landscape around Tolkien’s work. A second film, The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past, co-written by Stephen Colbert, is also in the pipeline and will adapt unseen elements from The Fellowship of the Ring via flashback.

Why Jackson Handed the Camera to Serkis

After directing six films set in Middle-earth across the original Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy, Jackson made the deliberate choice to step back from the director’s chair — and his reasoning is genuinely hard to argue with.

“I could have directed it, but I thought, ‘I’ve done that,'” he told Deadline at Cannes, where he received an honorary Palme d’Or earlier this week. “The more exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis made it.”

He expanded on that to IndieWire: “I honestly, truly believe that if it’s a film about Gollum’s addiction and internal struggles, Andy would make a much more interesting film than me. If I thought I’d do a better film, I’d do it. But I thought, there’s a guy that’s going to make a really interesting film here and it’s not me.”

The logic is hard to dispute. Serkis has inhabited Gollum across multiple films, building a performance that became a landmark in motion-capture acting. He’s also an experienced director in his own right, having helmed Venom: Let There Be Carnage and an adaptation of Animal Farm. Jackson says he’s fully stepping aside — not hovering. “I’m here to help where I can. But I don’t interfere. I’ve given him as much freedom as I can.”

Serkis putting Gollum’s psychology on screen from the inside out, drawing on two decades of living with that character — if the Joker comparison holds, that’s a genuinely compelling proposition. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum opens December 17, 2027.

The post Peter Jackson Reveals Joker Inspired The Hunt for Gollum appeared first on Cream.

• Stephen Colbert pitched his Lord of the Rings sequel idea to Peter Jackson a full year before CBS canceled The Late Show.
• The film, currently titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, is co-written by Colbert, his son Peter McGee, and longtime Jackson collaborator Philippa Boyens.
• Jackson says Colbert has helped him process the shock of losing his show — calling the LOTR project a “blessing in disguise.”
• The sequel is set 14 years after Frodo’s passing and follows Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Sam’s daughter Elanor on a new adventure.
• Colbert traveled to New Zealand to work with Jackson’s team and has spent a year developing the treatment.

Long before CBS pulled the plug on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert was already quietly building himself a second act in Middle-earth. Peter Jackson revealed at the Cannes Film Festival — where he was honored with a Palme d’Or on opening night — that Colbert called him up a full year ago with an idea for a new Tolkien film, well before either of them had any idea the late-night era of his career was about to end.

“He phoned me up a year ago — before he knew his show was going to finish — and said, ‘I don’t know if you’re interesting, but I’ve got an idea for a Tolkien movie based on the books that I think would be really good,'” Jackson told Variety. Jackson was sold. He liked the pitch enough to connect Colbert with Philippa Boyens — the screenwriter who co-wrote both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies with him — and the three of them have been working on a treatment ever since. Colbert even flew to New Zealand to be closer to the team.

Then, right in the middle of all that, CBS canceled The Late Show.

Jackson didn’t mince words about how he felt about that decision, saying it wasn’t what the show or Colbert “deserved.” But he also sees a silver lining. Having a project this big waiting in the wings — something Colbert had been building quietly for a year — turned a gut punch into something more manageable.

“I think Stephen’s actually really happy — I think it helped him process what was a rather shocking,” Jackson said. “So it was like, okay, one day he’s going to be a late-night talk show host, and the next day he’s going to be a Tolkien scriptwriter.”

Jackson also made clear just how seriously he takes Colbert as a Tolkien authority. “I’ve never met anyone who knows more about Tolkien,” he said — high praise from the man who spent over a decade adapting the books for the screen.

What the Movie Is Actually About

The film currently carries the working title The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, and its official logline gives fans a real sense of what Colbert, his son Peter McGee, and Boyens have been building. Set fourteen years after the passing of Frodo, the story follows Sam, Merry, and Pippin as they set out to retrace the first steps of their original adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter Elanor uncovers a long-buried secret — one that reveals the War of the Ring was nearly lost before it ever truly began.

It’s a sequel, not a prequel — which makes it a different beast from the other new LOTR film in development. That one, The Hunt for Gollum, is directed by Andy Serkis and is set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Colbert’s film will follow Serkis’ in the pipeline, though no release date has been set yet.

This Isn’t Colbert’s First Trip to Middle-earth

None of this came out of nowhere. Colbert has long been one of Hollywood’s most devoted Tolkien fans, and his connection to Jackson is real and established. He had a small role in 2013’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and in 2019 he directed Jackson — along with Lord of the Rings stars Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, and Elijah Wood — in the short film Darrylgorn, set in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. It was Colbert who leveraged that existing relationship to make the call that started all of this.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs its final episode on May 21, 2026. And when that chapter closes, it sounds like Colbert already knows exactly where he’s headed next.

The post Colbert Pitched His LOTR Movie Before Late Show Was Canceled appeared first on Cream.

• Ian McKellen is reprising his role as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis
• McKellen joked at a London Q&A that even he was surprised more Middle-earth stories were being made
• He called Gandalf a rare kind of role — “a good man” — in contrast to the villains he often enjoys playing
• The film also brings back Elijah Wood and Lee Pace, with Jamie Dornan replacing Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
• The Hunt for Gollum is set for December 17, 2027

Ian McKellen is heading back to Middle-earth — and he’s the first to admit he didn’t quite see it coming. The legendary actor, who played Gandalf across all six of Peter Jackson’s live-action Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, confirmed his return in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum during a Q&A in London for his new film The Christophers. And he did it with the kind of dry wit you’d expect from a man who’s been playing wizards for over two decades.

“I’m going back to do more Gandalf,” McKellen told the audience, attended by GamesRadar+. “Who would have thought there was more? The person who thought there was more was Andy Serkis, and he’s going to be directing Gollum’s early life.”

It’s a cheeky line — but if anyone’s earned the right to be cheeky about Lord of the Rings, it’s McKellen.

Why Gandalf Means Something Different to McKellen

The comment came as part of a longer answer about what kinds of roles he’s drawn to at this stage in his career. McKellen’s response was honest, thoughtful, and a little unexpected. When asked whether he prioritizes one type of role over another, he said no — but then gave a window into exactly what excites him about the craft.

“It’s always nice to play the baddie, you know,” he said. “The devil has the best shoes. Only occasionally, you play a good man like Gandalf, but they don’t come along very often.”

He went on: “Am I looking for something in particular? No, I think I’m always looking for a script that will resonate beyond itself. It’s not just a simple story, not just an Agatha Christie… something more complicated that will make an audience, as I like to when I’m in the cinema or in the theater for a play, lean forward, gasp, laugh, a day to think about, talk about. I think, when I do, at this point, what I’m looking for is something that nobody else has ever done.”

For a man who’s about to reprise both Gandalf and Magneto — he’s also returning as the X-Men villain in Avengers: Doomsday — that tension between good and evil is clearly something he finds genuinely interesting, not just professionally convenient.

What The Hunt for Gollum Is Actually About

The film picks up in the years between Bilbo Baggins’ famous birthday party and the Fellowship’s ill-fated journey through the Mines of Moria — a stretch of untold story that screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have described as “quite an intense” period in the mythology. Gandalf and Aragorn are both searching for Gollum to uncover the truth about the One Ring, while Sauron’s forces close in behind them.

Serkis, who originated the role of Gollum and is now stepping behind the camera for the first time in this universe, will also reprise his motion-capture role. Walsh and Boyens are writing, with Peter Jackson producing alongside them and Zane Weiner. Ken Kamins will executive produce, along with Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish of The Imaginarium.

McKellen isn’t the only familiar face returning. Elijah Wood is back as Frodo Baggins, and Lee Pace returns as elven king Thranduil, a role he played in The Hobbit trilogy. The big casting shake-up is at the center of the story: Viggo Mortensen will not return as Aragorn. Instead, Jamie Dornan — best known for Fifty Shades of Grey and The Fall — steps into the role of Strider.

Serkis addressed the recasting carefully when asked about it recently. “I really, really don’t want to go into it right now because I do want to save that for further down the line,” he said. “We’re at a crunch stage now, we’re just about to start shooting. So, I’m going to save all discussion about casting, other than that, we are thrilled that Jamie’s doing it. We’re absolutely thrilled. And, by the way, so is Viggo.”

Shooting is set to take place in New Zealand, keeping the production anchored in the same landscapes that defined Jackson’s original trilogy. A second new film, The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past — co-written by Stephen Colbert — is also in development, though details on that project remain sparse and McKellen’s involvement hasn’t been confirmed.

McKellen mentioned at the Q&A that he has a play lined up for “when I come back from Middle-earth” — a production exploring his connection to King Lear. The man is, in every sense, not slowing down.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum arrives in theaters on December 17, 2027.

The post Ian McKellen on Returning as Gandalf: ‘A Good Man Like That Doesn’t Come Along Often’ appeared first on Cream.

• Peter Jackson received an honorary Palme d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony on May 12
• Elijah Wood, who played Frodo Baggins in the LOTR trilogy, presented the award and gave an emotional speech
• Jackson admitted he was shocked, saying “I just don’t make Palme d’Or-type films”
• The honor comes on the 25th anniversary of Jackson screening Lord of the Rings footage at Cannes — a moment he says saved the franchise
• Jackson also weighed in on AI in film and explained why Andy Serkis, not him, is directing the upcoming Hunt for Gollum

Peter Jackson has never had a film in Cannes competition. He makes giant, sprawling, genre-defying epics about hobbits and Beatles and brain-splattered aliens in New Zealand. He wore a tuxedo shirt to his own honorary Palme d’Or ceremony — and almost paired it with shorts, just to see what would happen.

None of that stopped the 79th Cannes Film Festival from honoring the director with one of cinema’s most prestigious awards Tuesday night, and honestly? The whole thing felt exactly right.

Jackson, 64, received the Honorary Palme d’Or during the festival’s opening ceremony at the Palais’ Grand Lumière Theatre, presented by none other than Elijah Wood — the actor who played Frodo Baggins in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and who, by his own account, had his entire life rerouted the moment he got that casting call.

Elijah Wood’s Speech Will Make You Feel Things

Wood, 45, took the stage with his wife, Danish film producer Mette-Marie Kongsved, by his side. What followed was one of those rare award ceremony speeches that actually earns its standing ovation.

He described how Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh had flown to Los Angeles after watching a VHS audition tape Wood had filmed with friends in the woods of Griffith Park. “I walked into Victoria Burrows’ casting office and there they were, Pete and Fran, together as they’d been for almost every day since they first met sometime in the late ’80s,” Wood said.

“And when, a little while later, the call came that I was going to be Frodo Baggins, I sat down on the floor of my bedroom and I understood with the whole of my being that my life had just been divided into before and after. And I know I’m far from the only person who has had their life changed by Peter Jackson.”

He continued: “Peter grew up in a country that back then barely had a film industry at all. But in true Pete fashion, that was not about to hold him back. You showed the world something it had never seen before, and nothing was ever the same. He helped build an entirely new filmmaking culture at the far edge of the world.”

Jackson accepted the trophy with a hug and immediately lightened the mood, noting that he’d “grown a little bit of facial hair” since they first met 27 years ago and joking that Wood’s cheekbones might qualify him for a Gone With the Wind remake.

How Cannes Saved The Lord of the Rings

Jackson’s history with Cannes is a full-circle story 38 years in the making. He first came to the festival marketplace in 1988 with his debut feature Bad Taste, a splatter comedy he’d shot on weekends over four years while working as a photo engraver back home in New Zealand. “If the film hadn’t sold well at the marketplace here, I would have gone back to New Zealand to my photo engraver job,” he told the crowd. “Fortunately, it sold really well. It started my career.”

The second visit, in 2001, was higher stakes and more fraught. Jackson and New Line Cinema had just finished shooting all three Lord of the Rings films simultaneously — an enormous, unprecedented gamble — and the press was not being kind. The AOL-Time Warner merger had thrown Warner Bros. into chaos, and the dominant media narrative was that this massive fantasy trilogy was going to be a catastrophic failure.

New Line founder Bob Shaye decided to do something about it. He rushed 20 minutes of footage from The Fellowship of the Ring to Cannes, screened it, and threw a party at a castle in the hills. The reception was rapturous. The story changed overnight.

“Bob’s great gamble really changed the perception of the film,” Jackson said. “And for me obviously, it was a life-changing thing. So by the time the film came out there was an anticipation that there wouldn’t have been if not for Cannes.”

That franchise ultimately won 17 Oscars. Tuesday night, it brought Jackson back to the Croisette for his third visit — this time to collect a Palme.

“I Just Don’t Make Palme d’Or-Type Films”

At a public masterclass the following day in the Debussy Theatre, Jackson was characteristically self-deprecating about the whole thing. He said receiving the honorary Palme felt about as likely as winning an award for bellydancing.

“I just don’t make Palme d’Or-type films,” he said, grinning. “I really like the idea of having a Palme d’Or without having to make a film.”

Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux had framed the honor rather more grandly before the festival: “There is clearly a before and an after Peter Jackson. Larger-than-life cinema is his trademark, and his all-encompassing art of entertainment is particularly ambitious. Peter Jackson is not only a great technician; he is above all a tremendous storyteller. And an unpredictable artist: what will his next universe be?”

Jackson admitted he was very tempted to wear a tuxedo jacket with shorts to the ceremony — a small act of rebellion against Cannes’ notoriously strict dress code — but ultimately “didn’t have the courage.”

The masterclass also surfaced a gem from his early career: multiple clips from his work were screened, including Heavenly Creatures, the 1994 film that gave a young Kate Winslet her feature debut. Jackson played a tramp who ends up in a scene with her. “I realized I gave Kate Winslet her first screen kiss,” he said, joking that he must have set the bar pretty high.

Why Andy Serkis Is Directing The Hunt for Gollum — Not Jackson

Naturally, conversation turned to what’s next for Middle-earth. The upcoming The Hunt for Gollum, which will see Andy Serkis both direct and reprise his iconic role, has been a topic of fan curiosity since it was announced. Jackson addressed the question of why he stepped aside directly.

“The film is about Gollum’s psychological and addiction,” he explained. “I thought, ‘Andy knows this guy better than anybody.’ The most exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis makes it.”

And speaking of Serkis, Jackson had strong feelings about the long-running debate over whether motion-capture performances deserve awards recognition. He thinks the current anxiety around AI is making a complicated situation worse.

“A lot of the current environment, everyone’s so worried about AI … I don’t think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope for winning any awards,” he said. “Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it’s not an AI-generated performance, it’s a human-generated performance 100% of the way.”

On AI itself, Jackson was more nuanced than the headline might suggest. “I mean, to me, it’s just a special effect. It’s no different from other special effects.” But he was clear that protecting actors’ rights is non-negotiable. “It’s absolutely critical” to prevent likenesses being stolen and used without permission, he said — though licensed use, in his view, is a different matter entirely. He did add, with a laugh, that AI is “going to destroy the world.”

A Night That Belonged to Jackson — and New Zealand

After Jackson’s speech, the ceremony had one more surprise in store. A clip from his Beatles documentary Get Back flashed on screen, and then French-Congolese singer Theodora and French singer-songwriter Oklou walked out to perform “Get Back” live. Jackson bopped his head, clapped along, and sang every word.

The Honorary Palme has gone to some extraordinary names this decade — Marco Bellocchio, George Lucas, Studio Ghibli, Jodie Foster, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Michael Douglas. Barbra Streisand will receive this year’s second Honorary Palme at the closing ceremony on May 23.

Jackson joins that list as the rare honoree who never competed at Cannes, never made the kind of film Cannes typically celebrates — and yet somehow, the festival owes him as much as he owes it.

“The two times that I came before were monumental times,” he said of his 1988 and 2001 visits. This one, he called “profound.”

The post Peter Jackson Gets Honorary Palme d’Or From Elijah Wood at Cannes appeared first on Cream.

• Peter Jackson explained at Cannes why Andy Serkis — not him — is directing The Hunt for Gollum
• Jackson says the film is about “Gollum’s psychology and addiction” and Serkis knows the character better than anyone
• Jackson also argued that AI fears in Hollywood are unfairly hurting Serkis’s chances of ever winning awards for the role
• Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, and Lee Pace are returning; Jamie Dornan replaces Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
• The Hunt for Gollum is set for December 17, 2027

Peter Jackson had a simple answer when asked why he wasn’t stepping behind the camera for Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. “I could have directed it,” he said at his Cannes Film Festival masterclass this week, “but I thought, I’ve done that.”

The three-time Oscar winner — who picked up an honorary Palme d’Or at the festival’s opening ceremony the night before — didn’t take long to land on the only person who made sense for the job. “Andy knows this guy better than anybody,” Jackson said. “I didn’t think about me. The more exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis made it.”

It’s hard to argue with that logic. Serkis has played Gollum across six Middle-earth films. He invented the character from the inside out — the physicality, the fractured psychology, the tragedy of a creature consumed by something he can’t let go of. Jackson is giving him the keys and stepping back. “I’m leaving it to him. I’m here to help where I can. But I don’t interfere. I’ve given him as much freedom as I can.”

The film itself, Jackson teased, is less an action-adventure and more of an intimate character study. “It’s an internal story about Gollum’s psychology and addiction,” he said. “It’s a personal story to Gollum.” Set in the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the story follows the hunt for the fallen hobbit — with Gandalf and Aragorn tracking him down to learn where the One Ring ended up, while Sauron’s forces pursue them in return.

The Cast Coming Back to Middle-earth

Ian McKellen is returning as Gandalf, and he’s been refreshingly candid about the whole thing. “I’m going back to do more Gandalf,” McKellen said at a recent Q&A. “Who would have thought there was more? The person who thought there was more was Andy Serkis, and he’s going to be directing Gollum’s early life.” Even the wizard didn’t see this one coming.

Elijah Wood is back as Frodo — he was the one who presented Jackson with his honorary Palme on Tuesday night, telling the audience: “You showed the world something it had never seen before, and nothing was ever the same. He helped build an entirely new filmmaking culture at the far edge of the world.” Lee Pace returns from The Hobbit trilogy as elven king Thranduil. The one notable absence: Viggo Mortensen won’t reprise Aragorn. Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan steps into the role instead.

Shooting is set to begin in New Zealand — naturally — ahead of the December 17, 2027 release date.

The Oscar Problem No One Wants to Talk About

Away from the new film, Jackson raised something that’s been quietly frustrating fans of Serkis for years: the fact that one of cinema’s most technically and emotionally demanding performances has never come close to awards recognition — and Jackson thinks the current AI panic is making it worse.

“A lot of the current environment, everyone’s so worried about AI,” he said. “I don’t think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope for winning any awards. Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it’s not an AI-generated performance, it’s a human-generated performance 100% of the way.”

Jackson’s own view on AI in film is more nuanced than the current discourse tends to allow. “I don’t dislike it at all,” he said. “To me, it’s just a special effect. It’s no different from other special effects.” The line he draws is clear though: consent and licensing matter. “If you’re doing an AI duplicate of somebody, like Indiana Jones or anyone else, as long as you’ve licensed the rights off the person who you’re showing, I don’t see the issue. It’s when people’s likenesses get stolen and usurped.”

But the blurring of AI-generated imagery and performance-capture work — two very different things — is doing real damage to how the industry values what Serkis does. Jackson clearly feels that, even if he’s characteristically measured about it.

A Legacy That Started Right Here at Cannes

There’s a neat circularity to Jackson receiving his honorary Palme at Cannes this year. Twenty-five years ago, it was Cannes where everything changed for him. New Line Cinema had bet over $270 million on three Lord of the Rings films simultaneously — a gamble widely mocked in the press as reckless, possibly catastrophic. Then Jackson screened 26 minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring footage on the Croisette in 2001, and the conversation shifted overnight.

Ian McKellen, writing in a blog at the time, put it simply: “With relief and some excitement I can report that Peter Jackson’s images not only look convincing, they look stunning.” Festival director Thierry Frémaux, announcing this year’s honorary Palme, said there is “clearly a before and an after Peter Jackson. Larger-than-life cinema is his trademark, and his all-encompassing art of entertainment is particularly ambitious. He has permanently transformed Hollywood cinema and its conception of the spectacle.”

Jackson recalled in his speech that the 2001 Cannes screening “changed the perception of the film” — and with it, the perception of what blockbuster filmmaking could be.

Now, a quarter-century later, he’s handing that world to someone else to expand. And if his instincts about Andy Serkis are right — and they usually are — Middle-earth might have its most personal story yet still to tell.

The post Why Peter Jackson Let Andy Serkis Direct Hunt for Gollum appeared first on Cream.

• Peter Jackson received an honorary Palme d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony on May 12
• Elijah Wood, who played Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, presented the award with a heartfelt personal tribute
• Jackson revealed how a 2001 Cannes screening of 20 minutes of Fellowship of the Ring footage saved the franchise from a bad press cycle
• Jackson joins past honorary Palme recipients including Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster and Tom Cruise
• The 79th Cannes Film Festival runs through May 23, with 22 films competing for the Palme d’Or

Peter Jackson walked into the Grand Lumière Theatre at the Palais des Festivals on Tuesday night and walked out a Palme d’Or man — even if he’s still not entirely sure he deserves to be one.

“I’ve still got to work out why I am getting a Palme d’Or,” the beloved New Zealand filmmaker, 64, quipped to the crowd. “I am not a Palme d’Or type of guy.” The room, of course, disagreed — and gave him a standing ovation anyway.

The honorary prize was presented by the person perhaps best positioned to give it: Elijah Wood, who at 18 years old stepped into a casting office and came out as Frodo Baggins. The two haven’t just made movie history together — they’ve been close ever since. And on the opening night of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, Wood made that abundantly clear.

“My Life Had Just Been Divided Into Before and After”

Wood, 45, took the stage and told the story of how it all began — with a homemade VHS tape filmed in the woods of Griffith Park. Jackson and his longtime partner and collaborator Fran Walsh had flown to Los Angeles specifically to meet the young actor who’d sent it in.

“I walked into Victoria Burrows’ casting office and there they were, Pete and Fran, together as they’d been for almost every day since they first met sometime in the late ’80s,” Wood told the audience. “And when, a little while later, the call came that I was going to be Frodo Baggins, I sat down on the floor of my bedroom and I understood with the whole of my being that my life had just been divided into before and after. And I know I’m far from the only person who has had their life changed by Peter Jackson.”

He wasn’t done. “Peter grew up in a country that back then barely had a film industry at all,” Wood continued, beaming. “But in true Pete fashion, that was not about to hold him back. So Pete, I truly have no words to thank you for that.”

Jackson accepted the trophy with a hug — and a joke. Noting that it had been 27 years since their first meeting, he looked at Wood and said: “You’ve grown a little bit of facial hair. If someone does a remake of Gone With the Wind, it could be your role.”

Wood was joined at the ceremony by his wife, Danish film producer Mette-Marie Kongsved. Jackson brought along his two children, Billy and Katie.

How Cannes Saved Lord of the Rings

The laughs gave way to something more reflective when Jackson talked about what Cannes actually means to him — and it turns out, it means everything.

His first connection to the festival came in 1987, when he brought his debut feature Bad Taste to the Cannes market. “If the film hadn’t sold well at the marketplace here, I would have gone back to New Zealand to my photo engraver job,” he said, referencing the day job he’d held while making the film on weekends over four years. “Fortunately, it sold really well. It started my career.”

But the more consequential Cannes moment came in 2001, when the press cycle around The Lord of the Rings had turned genuinely ugly. The films had been shot over three years — all three simultaneously — but the studio landscape had grown turbulent. Warner Bros. was caught up in the disastrous AOL-Time Warner merger, and the narrative in the press had curdled into something close to mockery.

“All the press was sort of talking about this great folly,” Jackson recalled. “What happens if the first film fails? What are they going to do about films two and three because they’re already made? It was a huge gamble, but all the media was talking about that the gamble was going to fail.”

New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye decided to fight back — by bringing 20 minutes of The Fellowship of the Ring to Cannes that May, months before the December release. “We quickly cut together 20 minutes of film, really fast, and we brought that 20 minutes here in 2001 in May, and we did some press in that castle up on the hill and had a party there,” Jackson said. “Bob’s great gamble really changed the perception of the film. By the time it came out, there was an anticipation that there wouldn’t have been if not for Cannes.”

The rest, as they say, is cinema history. The Lord of the Rings trilogy went on to win 17 Oscars — including Best Picture for The Return of the King — and Jackson’s name became synonymous with epic, large-scale storytelling. “There is clearly a before and an after Peter Jackson,” Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux said ahead of the ceremony. “Larger-than-life cinema is his trademark, and his all-encompassing art of entertainment is particularly ambitious. Peter Jackson is not only a great technician; he is above all a tremendous storyteller.”

He couldn’t resist a wink at current events, either. With Warner Bros. once again in the middle of a major sale — this time to Paramount Skydance owner David Ellison — Jackson grinned at the crowd and said simply: “What goes around comes around.” The room laughed.

After Jackson’s speech brought another extended standing ovation, ceremony host Eye Haïdara surprised him with one more gift: a clip from his Beatles documentary flashed on screen, and then French-Congolese singer Theodora and French artist Oklou walked out to perform “Get Back” live. Jackson bopped his head, clapped his hands, and sang along. Jury member Demi Moore, watching from her seat, did the same.

A Star-Studded Night to Open the 79th Festival

Jackson joins an elite group of filmmakers and actors who’ve received the honorary Palme d’Or, including Agnès Varda, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Tom Cruise.

The rest of the opening night was equally electric. Jane Fonda and Chinese actress Gong Li took the stage together to officially declare the festival open — a pairing that felt intentional. “Jane comes from the West,” Gong said. “And I come from the East. Tonight we stand together here. This is the magic of the Cannes Film Festival.”

Fonda, never one to stay quiet when the moment calls for something more, added: “I believe in the power of voices — voices on the screen, voices off the screen, and definitely voices in the street, especially now. Cinema has always been an act of resistance because we tell the stories, and stories are what make a civilization.” She closed with a rallying cry: “Let’s celebrate audacity, freedom and the fierce act of creation.”

Jury president Park Chan-wook addressed the 22 films in competition, noting that while the selection may be small, the number of people who worked on them runs into the thousands. The jury he’s leading includes Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao, Stellan Skarsgård, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Diego Céspedes, Isaach De Bankolé and Paul Laverty.

The opening-night film was Pierre Salvadori’s La Vénus Électrique — known in English as The Electric Kiss — a period romantic comedy set in 1920s Paris, starring Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Vimala Pons and Gilles Lellouche. The film follows a grieving painter who accidentally begins a fake séance arrangement with a carnival worker, with predictably chaotic results.

Also on the red carpet: Joan Collins, Diego Luna, Heidi Klum, James Franco, Alia Bhatt, Tyrese Gibson, Bong Joon Ho and Maika Monroe, among others.

Competition screenings kick off Wednesday, with the Palme d’Or winner to be announced at the closing ceremony on May 23. The lineup includes buzzy titles featuring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Rami Malek, Sandra Hüller, Léa Seydoux, Catherine Deneuve, Michael Fassbender, Sebastian Stan and Pedro Almodóvar’s latest — which means the next 11 days on the Croisette are going to be very, very busy.

But Tuesday night belonged to Peter Jackson. And to the kid from New Zealand who made a movie on weekends, shipped it to a French film festival, and never looked back.

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• Lego officially revealed the Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith set, clocking in at 8,278 pieces — its biggest LOTR build ever.
• At $649.99, it’s also the most expensive LOTR set to date, beating Rivendell by $150 and over 2,000 pieces.
• The set includes 10 minifigures: Aragorn, Arwen, Gandalf the White, Denethor (with cherry tomatoes), Faramir, Merry, and four Soldiers of Gondor.
• Buyers who purchase between June 1–7 get a free Grond battering ram set, complete with two Orc minifigures.
• It releases June 1 for Lego Insiders and June 4 for the general public, marking the 25th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Gondor has called for aid — and Lego has answered in the biggest way possible. The company officially unveiled the Lego Icons The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith set on Tuesday, and it is an absolute beast: 8,278 pieces, 10 minifigures, and a $649.99 price tag that makes it the most ambitious Lord of the Rings set the brand has ever produced.

To put that in perspective, Minas Tirith beats the beloved Rivendell set by more than two thousand pieces and $150. It’s also legitimately one of the largest sets Lego has ever made — bigger than the Millennium Falcon, though it just falls short of the Death Star. According to IGN, it currently ranks as the fourth largest Lego set available, behind only the Eiffel Tower, Titanic, and Death Star builds.

The timing is intentional. This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring, and Lego is treating it as a full celebration — the set is officially subtitled the “25th Anniversary Legacy Collection.”

A City You Can Wear Two Ways

What makes Minas Tirith particularly clever is how it works as both a display piece and a playset. On the outside, the White City is rendered in micro-scale — every tiered ring of Gondor’s capital, from the Great Gate all the way up to the Fountain Court where the White Tree stands. It’s the kind of thing you put on a shelf and let people stare at.

But flip it open, and you get something else entirely. The lowest walls open up to reveal a minifigure-scaled interior, including the streets of the city and — crucially — the Tower Hall, complete with the throne room where Denethor held court as Steward of Gondor before a certain king came home.

Lego calls it a “hybrid microscale and minifigure-scale design,” and it’s a genuinely different approach from what the brand has done with previous Lord of the Rings sets. Rivendell leaned fully into playset territory. Barad-dûr split the difference. Minas Tirith does something more ambitious by making both modes feel intentional rather than compromised.

The finished build measures over 23.5 inches high, 24.5 inches wide, and 14.5 inches deep — so make sure you’ve got shelf space before you commit.

The Minifigure Lineup Is Exactly What You’d Want

Ten minifigures ship with the set, and the selection covers the two big emotional beats of The Return of the King — the siege and the coronation. You get Gandalf the White with Shadowfax, Merry in his Gondorian squire armor, Faramir, and Aragorn decked out in his kingly armor complete with a crown. Arwen is included carrying the banner of the elves from Aragorn’s coronation, which is a lovely touch for a scene that hits hard every single time.

Then there’s Denethor. Yes, he comes with cherry tomatoes. Lego did not miss.

Rounding out the lineup are four Warriors of Minas Tirith with spears, shields, and Gondor helmets — ready to hold the walls, or at least stand impressively on your desk.

The one notable absence: Pippin Took is listed among the minifigures in Lego’s official specs but wasn’t called out in all promotional materials — worth keeping an eye on the official Lego announcement for the final confirmed lineup.

The Free Grond Set Is Worth Moving Fast For

Lego is sweetening the deal with a Gift With Purchase for anyone who buys Minas Tirith between June 1 and 7: the Lego Icons The Lord of the Rings: Grond (set 40893). That’s the legendary wolf-headed battering ram Sauron’s forces used to break down Minas Tirith’s Great Gate during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields — and it’s scaled to pair with the main set, so it fits right into the diorama.

The Grond set includes two Orc minifigures with accessories, and features a functional ram mechanism with that iconic snarling wolf face. It’s a genuinely great companion piece, and if history is any guide, these GWPs move fast. Lego Insiders get early access starting June 1 at 12:01 a.m. — if you want Grond, that’s your window.

The set is not Smart Play compatible, unlike Lego’s recently announced Star Wars sets where that feature has been debuting. For now, Middle-earth remains charmingly analog.

Lego Insiders can purchase starting June 1. Everyone else gets access June 4. If you haven’t joined the Insiders program yet, it’s free — and for a set this size, the three-day head start on the GWP alone makes it worth signing up.

Six hundred and fifty dollars is a serious ask. But for Lord of the Rings fans who’ve been building out this collection since Rivendell, Minas Tirith isn’t just another set. It’s the centerpiece the whole line has been building toward.

The post Lego’s Minas Tirith Is Its Biggest LOTR Set Ever appeared first on Cream.

• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 officially premieres November 11, 2026 on Prime Video
• Season 3 jumps forward several years and centers on the War of the Elves and Sauron — and the forging of the One Ring
• A first-look photo shows Charlie Vickers’ Sauron back in his iconic crown helmet
• Stranger Things villain Jamie Campbell Bower joins the cast as a series regular, alongside Eddie Marsan
• The series has now attracted over 185 million viewers worldwide, with Season 1 still Prime Video’s biggest TV launch ever

The wait is almost over. Prime Video officially confirmed during Amazon’s annual Upfront presentation on Monday that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 will premiere on November 11, 2026 — and based on what’s coming, this could be the most consequential chapter yet.

Along with the date, Amazon dropped a first-look photo from the new season: a moody, atmospheric shot of Sauron — played by Charlie Vickers — back in his signature crown helmet. After two seasons of shapeshifting deception, the Dark Lord appears to be done hiding.

The official synopsis makes clear what’s at stake: “Jumping forward several years from the events of Season Two, Season Three takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war, bind all peoples to his will — and at last rule all Middle-earth.”

Yes, that means we’re finally getting the forging of the One Ring on screen. For Tolkien fans who have been watching this slow, meticulous build across two seasons, it’s the moment the whole series has been pointing toward.

Where Season 2 Left Things — and How Dark It Got

Season 2 ended in a brutal place. Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) was dead — memorably displayed on a pole as a symbol of Sauron’s cruelty. The beloved villain Adar (Sam Hazeldine) was also killed. King Durin, played by Peter Mullan, fell too. Eregion had been sacked. Sauron had the seven rings for the Dwarven kings and the nine for Men in his possession. The only flicker of hope came as the surviving Elves appeared to regroup in what looked like the early formation of Rivendell.

The Season 3 time jump means viewers will be dropped into a conflict that has already been raging — a war that, for those who know their Tolkien, leads directly to the War of the Last Alliance glimpsed in the prologue of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The Fall of Númenor, which showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have long confirmed is coming, also feels closer than ever. Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) usurped Queen Míriel’s throne in Season 2, and a multi-year time jump likely means Númenor’s political situation has deteriorated significantly.

Charlotte Brändström, who directed the epic Battle of Eregion episode in Season 2 and the season finale, previously told TV Insider that the finale contains Easter eggs that are “things that people will remember, but that also has to do with what’s going to come up in Season 3.” She and The Wheel of Time director Sanaa Hamri are both returning to direct in Season 3, joined by newcomer Stefan Schwartz, whose credits include The Boys and The Walking Dead.

New Faces Joining the Cast

The returning ensemble — Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Vickers as Sauron, Robert Aramayo as Elrond, Maxim Baldry, Markella Kavenagh, Owain Arthur, Daniel Weyman, and more — will be joined by some significant new additions.

Most notably, Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell Bower, who terrified audiences as Vecna, has signed on as a series regular. His character hasn’t been announced, but speculation is already running hot. Galadriel mentioned in Season 1 that her husband Celeborn was dead — but in Tolkien’s books, he very much isn’t. If Bower is playing a wise, ancient Elf lord who’s been presumed gone… the pieces fit.

Eddie Marsan joins in a recurring role, along with Andrew Richardson (series regular), Zubin Varla, and Adam Young — all in undisclosed roles, because of course they are. Rings of Power has made an art form of the casting announcement that tells you nothing and everything at once.

Production on Season 3 began in April 2025 and wrapped on December 10, 2025 — a shoot that ran roughly eight months, which tracks with the scale of what this show attempts every season.

The Numbers Behind the Spectacle

Amazon has never been shy about the investment Rings of Power represents, and the viewership figures they’re touting heading into Season 3 are genuinely staggering. The series has attracted over 185 million viewers worldwide. Season 1 remains the biggest TV series premiere in Prime Video history (measured over 91 days). Season 2, which premiered in August 2024 and ran through early October, debuted as the number one original series on Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 chart and stayed in the top four throughout its entire run. The show is also one of Amazon’s biggest drivers of new Prime membership sign-ups — which, for a company like Amazon, is arguably the metric that matters most.

“From the very beginning, this series has embodied the scale, ambition, and cinematic storytelling that define Prime Video’s biggest global series,” said Peter Friedlander, Head of Global Television at Amazon MGM Studios. “The extraordinary response from millions of fans around the world has made it clear that this journey through Middle-earth continues to resonate, and that momentum has only grown heading into Season Three.”

The show has always had its detractors — early reports noted that only 37% of American viewers finished Season 1, even as the raw launch numbers broke records. Season 2 was more warmly received by both fans and critics, and the hope heading into Season 3 is that the story’s acceleration into its most mythologically rich territory will bring the series fully into its own.

Payne and McKay have always maintained a five-season plan for the series — a roadmap they say hasn’t changed since they started. “We have a five-year plan that we’ve had all along that’s not changing,” Payne said during a set visit in 2023. With Season 3 arriving in November, the endgame for this corner of Middle-earth is starting to come into view.

In the meantime, this isn’t the only Tolkien project on the horizon. The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, the new theatrical film directed by and starring Andy Serkis, is in production under Peter Jackson’s watch — a completely separate creative team from the Prime Video series, but proof that Middle-earth has never felt more alive as a franchise.

Seasons 1 and 2 of The Rings of Power are streaming now on Prime Video. Season 3 arrives November 11.

The post Rings of Power Season 3 Gets Official Premiere Date appeared first on Cream.

• Andy Serkis says he’s ready to play Voldemort in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series and is “waiting for the call”
• Serkis made the comments during a Happy Sad Confused interview with Josh Horowitz while promoting his Animal Farm film
• The role of Voldemort has not yet been cast — HBO’s first season is set to debut Christmas 2026
• Serkis acknowledged Ralph Fiennes’ iconic portrayal, calling it “big boots to follow”
• Separate rumors suggest HBO may be eyeing an MCU star for the Dark Lord role

Andy Serkis is not shy about which role he wants next. The Lord of the Rings legend — best known for bringing Gollum to life across six Middle-earth films — has made it clear he’d jump at the chance to play Voldemort in HBO’s highly anticipated Harry Potter reboot series. And after hearing his case, it’s hard to disagree with him.

During a recent sit-down with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Serkis was asked point-blank whether he’d ever considered stepping into He Who Must Not Be Named’s robes. He seemed briefly caught off guard — then gave exactly the kind of answer you’d hope for.

“Wow. Definitely [in]. I mean, yeah. I’m just waiting for the call, basically. That’s a cool one. Mind you, [Ralph Fiennes] leaves big boots to follow,” Serkis said.

When Horowitz pressed him on one of the role’s more notorious requirements — namely, the nose situation — Serkis didn’t flinch. It’s exactly the kind of commitment you’d want from someone who has spent decades disappearing entirely into characters.

And disappear he has. Between Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy, and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel films, Serkis has built one of the most unique careers in modern cinema — a body of work defined by transformation, physicality, and the ability to make monstrous characters feel achingly human. Playing a noseless dark wizard who moves like something not quite of this world? That’s practically his home turf.

Why the Timing Actually Works

Here’s the thing about Voldemort in the new series: there’s no rush. The Dark Lord doesn’t fully appear in the flesh until the fourth book — meaning HBO wouldn’t need the role locked down until well into the show’s run. With the first season set to debut Christmas 2026 and a second season already in the scripting phase, the casting team has room to breathe.

That said, the Voldemort question is already one of the buzziest unknowns surrounding the project. Separate reports have suggested HBO may be looking at an MCU name for the role — with Paul Bettany’s name surfacing in speculation — though none of that has been confirmed by the studio. Ralph Fiennes himself has already weighed in with his own unusual suggestion for who should take over the role, which only added more fuel to the conversation.

Serkis, for his part, isn’t sitting around waiting. He’s got a full slate. His animated adaptation of Animal Farm — which he directed — is already out, though critics have largely been cool on it, taking issue with the film softening Orwell’s political edge for a younger audience. And beyond that, he’s heading back to Middle-earth in a big way: The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, currently eyeing a 2027 release, will see Serkis both direct and reprise his role as Gollum. The film reportedly follows Aragorn’s hunt to capture Gollum in the years between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, with Lee Pace and Jamie Dornan among the stars and Philippa Boyens co-writing alongside Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. He’s also attached to The Batman Part II.

So yes, the man is busy. But “waiting for the call” from Warner Bros. and HBO? Apparently there’s always room on the schedule for Voldemort.

The first season of Harry Potter arrives on HBO this Christmas. Whoever ends up wearing the Dark Lord’s robes, the bar — set by Fiennes across eight films — is extraordinarily high. But if there’s one actor alive who knows how to make audiences forget they’re watching a performance at all, it’s the guy who made a CGI cave creature one of the most heartbreaking characters in cinema history.

Warner Bros., the number is right there.

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