It’s been almost two years since Warner Bros Discovery announced that a new Lord of the Rings movie was in development. At the time, all we knew about The Hunt For Gollum was that Andy Serkis would be directing it and that Peter Jackson and his longtime producing partners would be involved. Since then, it’s been radio silence from the studio, but casting rumors have slipped through the cracks.

Last August, we unofficially learned from Sir Ian McKellen that he and Elijah Wood would be returning as Gandalf and Frodo. In a recent interview, Wood acknowledged Sir Ian’s claims without confirming them outright. There have also been a lot of unconfirmed rumors that strongly suggest that the part of Aragon would be recast. Well, the production is getting closer to their May 2026 start date, and we finally have an official casting update. Kate Winslet will be playing the female lead in The Hunt for Gollum.

Kate Winslet will join Andy Serkis’ Middle-earth epic The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum in what has been described to Deadline by sources as the female lead, although the role has not been disclosed.

Serkis and Peter Jackson spent most of last year coaxing Winslet to appear in the film, which means uprooting to New Zealand to shoot her scenes in the film from late May through to October.

It’s a country she’s familiar with, having shot Jackson’s 1994 movie Heavenly Creatures there.

Oscar winner Winslet will join a cast that includes the return of Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Serkis as Gollum — roles the three have been associated with since Jackson directed them in 2001’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and the subsequent series of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit features based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s celebrated collection.

The new film follows Aragorn’s perilous quest to capture Gollum before the creature can reveal the Ring’s location to Sauron. The story, much of it developed from Tolkien’s footnotes, is set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.

When I interviewed the Titanic star last year for her debut directorial feature Goodbye June, she mentioned she would probably be out of the country for several months this year but refused to disclose the reason why.

However, sources have told Deadline that the chunk of time spent out of the UK will be spent filming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The casting has been rumored on some film blogs today. We’d been sitting on the news for a while but today can confirm the casting as legit.

Serkis has recently been in Los Angeles and New Zealand in pre-production for the film, which starts shooting in May with Serkis in the director’s chair. The Warner Bros production has been scripted by Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. Jackson, Boyens, Walsh and Zane Weiner are producing.

[From Deadline]

Kate’s casting had been rumored for a little while, but as I mentioned above, nothing was official until now. It’s interesting that no one knows who she could be playing and online theories are all over the place. One popular theory is that she’s playing Aragorn’s mother, Gilraen. The only problem with this theory is that in canon, Gilrean dies a few years before the Gollum hunt starts. Other female characters who have yet to be featured but have gained Internet traction include Boromir and Faramir’s mother, Finduilas, or Théodwyn, King Théoden’s sister and mother of Éomer and Éowyn. There are also some very outside theories that place her as either Primula Brandybuck (Frodo’s mom) or even as Sméagol’s/Gollum’s unnamed grandmother. I’m so intrigued by the secrecy behind Kate’s casting. I think that she’s a fantastic actress who will do a great job with whatever role she has been sought after to play. As they get closer to the start of filming, I’m really hoping that we’ll get even more details.

Photos credit: Jonathan Brady/Avalon, StillMoving.Net for Netflix