The new Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum, can bring back a pivotal character from The Hobbit movies. Warner Bros. has announced the new film as the first in their latest slate of Lord of the Rings movies, hoping to expand on their franchise after years away. Andy Serkis, who gave an iconic performance to Gollum in Peter Jackson’s original trilogy, will return as the film’s director and star. The Hunt for Gollum will be shown primarily from Gollum’s perspective rather than the likes of Aragorn and Gandalf, who should also appear.

There are limited plot details regarding The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum so far, but inferences can be made based on events from the books. In the Lord of the Rings chronology, The Hobbit takes place around the year 2941. The beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring is roughly 60 years later, in the year 3001. However, Frodo’s quest to Rivendell doesn’t happen in the books until 3018. The events of The Hunt for Gollum should take place between 3009 and 3017 and should provide some context for one particular character from The Hobbit.

The Hunt For Gollum Can Bring Back Lee Pace’s Thranduil From The Hobbit Movies

Aragorn Captures Gollum And Brings Him To Thranduil In Mirkwood

Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy aren’t the best Lord of the Rings movies, but one aspect they nailed was the casting of Lee Pace as Thranduil, also known as the Elvenking in the original Hobbit book. Thranduil is the ruler of the Woodland Realm, a kingdom in Mirkwood, and is the father of Legolas. Despite being an immortal ruler who commands a significant force and whose son is deeply involved in the conflict of the War of the Ring, Thranduil never makes an appearance in The Lord of the Rings movies.

In the Appendices of The Return of the King, the text The Hunt for Gollum is based on, Gandalf sends Aragorn to capture Gollum. After eight years of searching, Aragorn captures Gollum and brings him to Thranduil in Mirkwood for interrogation. Subsequently, Gollum escapes, and Legolas travels to Rivendell to report this matter to the Council of Elrond. Since this is skipped over in The Fellowship of the Ring movie, The Hunt for Gollum could see Lee Pace reprise the role, filling in some gaps.

Since starring in The Hobbit movies, Lee Pace has had a small role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, most notably, stars in the Apple TV+ series Foundation. In the sci-fi space opera series, he plays Emperor Cleon, channeling some of his similar posh elegance from the Thranduil role. He’s an excellent actor, and it would be fantastic to see him return to the world of Lord of the Rings. Casting outside of Andy Serkis is currently unknown, but it seems like the film will be in continuity with Peter Jackson’s movies, therefore retaining many of the same actors as possible.

What Was Thranduil Doing During The Lord Of The Rings?

Thranduil Was Busy Defending Mirkwood From Sauron’s Forces In Dol Guldur

To clarify, Thranduil wasn’t omitted from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies; he’s also not prevalent in the books and is only referred to occasionally. The films depict Sauron’s force of Orcs from Mordor and Saruman’s force from Isengard as being the two primary fronts, but The War of the Ring spread further across Middle-Earth in ways that aren’t mentioned in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. While the fighting occurred in Gondor and Rohan, Mirkwood was also being attacked by Sauron’s forces, keeping Thranduil occupied.

The Hobbit movies explore some tangents that aren’t from the original text, such as Gandalf’s mission to Dol Guldur to explore the threat of the necromancer. While this isn’t directly from The Hobbit, Gandalf explains in The Lord of the Rings that those events did actually occur, with The White Council attacking Dol Guldur around the time of Bilbo’s quest. However, Sauron later reoccupied the stronghold, using it as an outpost in Mirkwood to launch assaults on Thranduil and also Lórien, which is defended by Galadriel and Celeborn.

Could Legolas Appear In The Hunt For Gollum Too?

Legolas Could Feasibly Be In Mirkwood At The Time, But He Wouldn’t Serve Any Narrative Purpose

Legolas’s appearance in The Hobbit was a strange and divisive choice, given that he has no history written before The Fellowship of the Ring, aside from being Thranduil’s son and the prince of the Woodland Realm. However, in both The Hobbit and The Hunt for Gollum, it’s not an impossible stretch of the imagination to think he would be at Mirkwood with his father. There’s no distinct narrative purpose for him to be in the movie, but given Warner Bros.’s desire to franchise Lord of the Rings, it’s certainly not impossible that Legolas could be in The Hunt for Gollum.