Every Upcoming Lord Of The Rings Movie & TV Show

Summary

• The
  Lord of the Rings
  franchise is expanding with new TV shows and movies set in Middle-earth.
• The Rings of Power
  season 2 and
  The War of the Rohirrim
  are among the upcoming projects.
• The Hunt for Gollum
  will be directed by Andy Serkis and is part of a new wave of cinematic Middle-earth content.

The future of The Lord of the Rings looks bright, with several upcoming TV shows and movies set in Middle-earth currently in production. Since the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy began in 2001, the franchise’s movie & TV portfolio has expanded via prequels and spinoffs. The enduring legacy of Peter Jackson’s movies means rights holders are eager to produce more content derived from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books, and audiences are just as eager to consume it.

As of 2024, the only official Middle-earth movies and TV shows have been the animated Lord of the Rings adaptations released in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson’s subsequent The Hobbit trilogy, and Amazon’s The Rings of Power. The lack of further material is partially because the rights to adapt Tolkien’s work are split between various parties, but Warner Bros. and Amazon both currently have Middle-earth projects brewing in their respective pipelines, from prequel The Lord of the Rings movies to big-budget TV spinoffs.

3 The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim

Release Date: December 13, 2024

Of all the projects currently in production, the next Middle-earth movie will be The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Confirmed in 2021 by director Kenji Kamiyama, the animated The War of the Rohirrim is written by Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou from a story by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. Phillipa Boyens, co-writer of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, served as a story consultant, with The War of the Rohirrim acting as a spiritual prequel to Peter Jackson’s original trilogy.

Kenji Kamiyama is best known for
Eden of the East
and
Blade Runner: Black Lotus
.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be set 183 years before The Two Towers. The middle chapter in Jackson’s trilogy was the first to introduce the Rohirrim, also known as the horse lords of Rohan, and the upcoming film’s story will center on Helm Hammerhand, the legendary king of Rohan who looks to defend his country against an army of Dunlendings. Succession‘s Brian Cox will voice Hammerhand himself, while other cast members include the returning Miranda Otto as Eowyn, Gaia Wise as Helm’s daughter, Hera, and Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, leader of the villainous Dunlendings.

2 The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum

Release Date: 2026

Andy Serkis will both direct and star in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, scheduled for release in 2026. The first live-action Lord of the Rings movie since Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy concluded in 2014 boasts Jackson himself as a producer. He’s joined by fellow Lord of the Rings producers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who are also writing the new installment alongside The War of the Rohirrim‘s Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. Serkis’ social media announcement happily confirmed The Hunt for Gollum‘s production would return to the franchise’s spiritual home of New Zealand.

According to Tolkien’s books,
The Hunt for Gollum
should take place within a multi-year time skip that separates Bilbo’s birthday party and Frodo leaving the Shire, but Peter Jackson’s
The Fellowship of the Ring
glossed over this gap.

While no plot details for The Hunt for Gollum have been provided, the movie shares its title with a 15-year-old The Lord of the Rings fan film set near the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. If Andy Serkis’ upcoming movie follows its namesake, The Hunt for Gollum will cover the period Gollum was captured by Sauron and interrogated over the One Ring’s whereabouts. Gandalf and Aragorn were also seeking the artist formerly known as Sméagol during this period, leaving the door open for Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen to potentially reprise their roles.

1 New LOTR Movie Adapted From The Books By New Line Cinema

Release Date: TBA

Following confirmation of Andy Serkis’ Gollum prequel, further Lord of the Rings movies based on the books will be released by Warner Bros. In February 2023, it was announced that New Line Cinema – the studio involved in every Lord of the Rings production since 2001, including War of the Rohirrim and Rings of Power – had partnered with Middle-earth Enterprises. Upon doing so, the company quickly proceeded with development on a new series of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be the first in this new wave of cinematic Middle-earth content, but the original 2023 press release mentioned “multiple feature films.” Precisely how many The Lord of the Rings movies that entails remains to be seen, but Gollum’s solo venture will certainly not be the final trip Warner Bros. takes into Middle-earth.

There Are Likely A Lot More Coming In Lord Of The Rings’ Future

If there’s one thing for certain, it’s that it’s an incredibly exciting time to be a fan of The Lord of the Rings. Outside of Amazon’s series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, there hasn’t been any new Lord of the Rings movies or TV shows since 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which arrived a decade ago. After almost ten years with nothing new on the horizon, fans of LotR now have a wealth of new movies set in Middle-earth to look forward to — and there are even more likely to be announced.

Speaking in 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav spoke on the studios’ plans for their existing properties and where their efforts will likely be focused (via The Wrap). Lord of the Rings was specifically singled out and named as one of several WB IP’s the studio currently sees as underused and have strong desires to expand upon:

“One of the other real strengths of Warner Bros. is we talk about the great IP that Warner Bros. owns.But, for us, the challenge is that our content, our great IP — “Harry Potter,” DC, “Lord of the Rings” — that content has been underused.”

Zaslav’s comments weren’t just vague promises or a simple acknowledgment of interest, either. He went on to outline that the studio had plans for multiple Lord of the Rings movies, and sure enough, this soon bore fruit with the announcement of projects like The Hunt for Gollum. When factoring in that, in the same presentation, he discussed a 10-year plan for DC Comics adaptations and Harry Potter, it seems clear that there will be much more LotR content to look forward to over the next decade — a complete reversal of the one that’s passed since The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was released.