It’s official: The Hunt for Gollum is a midquel. Co-writer/producer Philippa Boyens has just revealed that the upcoming The Lord of the Rings movie will run parallel to the early events of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Speaking with The Playlist, Boyens explained how The Hunt for Gollum is set during The Fellowship of the Ring, taking place after Bilbo Baggins’ 111th birthday party and before the Mines of Moria. The upcoming movie begins with Gandalf sending Aragorn on a quest to find Gollum, who the wizard fears may reveal information about the One Ring to Sauron. “Yes, it’s deliberately the bridging film and the story we wanted to tell,” she stated.

The writer continued, “It does center on Gollum/Smeagol, so it’s a little bit of an origin story going on, but when you delve into it, as you do with anything Professor Tolkien wrote, you see the layers and layers of story that’s underneath there and how interconnected they all are.” While she admitted that The Hunt for Gollum is “a tricky story” to write since fans already know “the fate of several of the characters,” she shared that she wasn’t going to let that complicate matters much, noting that “you kind of then have to use that to your advantage as a storyteller.”

Which LOTR Actors Are Returning for The Hunt for Gollum?

At the time of writing, the only actor officially confirmed to be returning for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is Andy Serkis, who, in addition to reprising his role from the original trilogy as Gollum, will be directing the midquel. However, with Gandalf and Aragorn set to play major roles in the movie, there is hope that both Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen will also return, reprising their respective roles from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

McKellen confirmed back in September that he’s had discussions about returning as Gandalf, particularly that Warner Bros. and the LOTR team “hope that I’ll be playing him.” As for Mortensen coming back as Aragorn, Boyens shared with The Playlist that they have spoken with the actor about reprising the role. “I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but it will be completely and entirely up to Viggo,” she said.

Boyens continued, “I know Andy wants to work with him, but also, we don’t see this as like, using A.I. [technology], this is about a digital make-up, and whether Viggo does it or will entirely depends on how good the script is. And he doesn’t have a script yet. So to be fair to Viggo, let’s see if we write a good enough role and that he can find enough in it to see that it’s a performance he wants to take on. After that, it’ll be between Viggo and Andy of how that is achieved.” Mortensen previously expressed interest in reprising the role of Aragorn back in May, but revealed that he would only return “if I was right for the character. It would be silly to do it otherwise.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is intended to hit theaters in 2026, although an exact release date hasn’t been announced yet.