Craving more Middle-earth? Peter Jackson has news on two Lord of the Rings films

Well, Peter Jackson is back in the spotlight yet again — in Spain, no less — picking up the 2026 Honorary Grand Prize at the 59th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Quite the mouthful. To be fair, the man’s earned it, given he’s gone from splatter-horror oddities like Braindead all the way to Oscar-hoovering glory with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Let’s not pretend anyone’s forgotten those long years spent in New Zealand, wrangling orcs and elves into cinematic legend, only to hop back for another round with The Hobbit.

Two More Rings

Now, with Middle-earth booming again, there are two fresh Lord of the Rings films on the way — not directed by Jackson this time, but he’s still hanging around as producer. Up first is The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, helmed by Andy Serkis (yes, Gollum himself), and a second project titled The Shadow of the Past, being co-written by Tolkien obsessive Stephen Colbert (yes, the late-night chap who could probably recite half the appendices from memory).

Jackson popped up in a chat with Fotogramas (the Spanish film mag) to share where things stand. Here’s what he told them about the two flicks:

Jackson, speaking with Fotogramas: 'We have The Shadow of the Past, which is in the scriptwriting stage. The Hunt for Gollum is almost finished filming. I think there are about two weeks of shooting left.'

If you’ve been following, The Hunt for Gollum has been in the works for a good while now, with the odd set photo getting out. Story-wise, it’s slotted right into the timeline of The Fellowship of the Ring — specifically, when Gandalf (with Ian McKellen back in the beard) and Aragorn (now played by Jamie Dornan, Viggo Mortensen swanned off to do other things) are busy tracking Gollum for clues about the One Ring. This one’s actually arriving in cinemas 17 December 2027, so pencil that in if you’re keen.

'The Hunt for Gollum' lands in cinemas December 2027 with Jamie Dornan replacing Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn.

As for The Shadow of the Past, things are much earlier — it’s still at the writing desk. The new film is said to adapt half a dozen chapters from Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring that Jackson’s original film skipped clean over. This means we’ll finally see the Hobbits set off from the Shire, have that long-awaited run-in with Tom Bombadil (Tolkien’s favourite oddball), and wander through the Barrow-downs — another bit readers have been grumbling about missing for decades. Colbert’s not writing it alone: Philippa Boyens (veteran of previous LOTR scripts) and Colbert’s own son, Peter McGee, are on script duty.

Studio Shenanigans

Now, there’s a bit of a speed bump: the film landscape’s shifted after Paramount Skydance bought out Warner Bros. Discovery for a frankly absurd $110 billion. Word is, the suits want to wait and see just how The Hunt for Gollum does at the box office before they let The Shadow of the Past move ahead. Jackson didn’t sound like it’s dead — merely that it’s not moving at pace, likely ‘paused’ until Gollum’s effort makes its money back and then some. Very Hollywood, really.