Popverse's top stories

• Critical Role star Matt Mercer knows how to work Bart Simpson into a Dungeons & Dragons campaign
• Thanks to Clair Obscur and Dispatch, we need to redefine what an Indie game is [Gamify My Life]
• Bridgerton Seasons 1–3 recap: Everything to know before Season 4’s release

It seems that we will never truly be finished with Middle-earth. Rings of Power Season 3 recently wrapped filming, while The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is slated for a December 2027 release date. That film could potentially see the return of multiple actors from the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Frodo actor Elijah Wood calling it a “getting the band back together” moment.

The comments came at FAN EXPO New Orleans, where Elijah Wood commented on the recent comments by Ian McKellen about The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. McKellen said over the summer that “There’s a character in the movie called Frodo and another character called Gandalf, and apart from that, my lips are sealed.” This seems to confirm that Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen would both be back for The Lord of the Rings midquel. After all, who could play these two characters but the original actors?

Obviously, Wood stopped short of confirming that he is returning as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. “I can neither confirm nor deny,” he said. “Listen, a wizard is to be trusted. Aside from any of that, I’m not really allowed to confirm. I’m really excited about the film. I think it really is a creative ‘getting the band back together.’ A lot of creative heads of department are back and in that space again. Philippa [Boyens], I think, is co-writing it and producing it. It’s very much that core original group getting back together to tell this story that will feel like a really fun exploration of this character that we all love so much. And I’m just really excited.”

This certainly seems to imply that Elijah Wood will be back as Frodo alongside Ian McKellen’s Gandalf and Andy Serkis’ Gollum when The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum hits cinemas on December 17, 2027. We probably won’t know if the band is truly getting back together – and how much of the Lord of the Rings cast will be involved – until the film starts production later in 2026.

Whether you're Shirefolk, Elven, Dwarven, or something else, there's a good reason to love Lord of the Rings. We do! With that in mind, we have a dragon's horde of goodies for you:

• Lord of the Rings reading guide 
• Lord of the Rings watch guide
• The Lord of the Rings reunion panel you can watch 
• The OG Hobbit actors stay in touch every day on a groupchat 
• The true message of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to Gimli himself - John Rhys-Davies.