Amazon is reviving The Lord of the Rings with a new series, but it looks like they’ll have to do it without Gollum himself, Andy Serkis.
Serkis is well-known for being one of the best motion capture actors working today. With his work in franchises like Planet of the Apes and Star Wars under his belt, he’s an incredibly sought-after actor.
However, he is probably most renowned for his work as Smeagol/Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. When Amazon announced that they would be creating their own series based on Tolkien’s works (set before the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy), many wondered if Serkis would be reprising his role.
In an interview with Screen Crush, he let everyone know that he didn’t have any plans on returning to Middle Earth.
When asked about the series, he said, “I have no idea what that’s about, really. I mean, it sounds incredible, but I don’t see myself being any part of it. I don’t think they would — I think it’s a completely fresh, new approach to it all, so I don’t think I’d imagine myself to be anywhere near it really.”
While it’s a bit of a bummer to hear that Andy Serkis isn’t planning on reprising his role in the new series, it makes sense. After all, trilogy and the Lord of the Rings trilogies gave us six movies to learn about Gollum’s backstory. Any appearance by the creature would really be nothing more than fan service instead of something to push the plot forward, so we’re glad to hear that (at least for now) the creators aren’t looking to force cameos into the show just to placate fans.
It’s too bad that we won’t get to see more Gollum on our screens, but his story has already been told in detail. We’re really excited to see what other Middle Earth tales Amazon is able to come up with in their new series!