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https://nerdist.com/article/new-lord-of-the-rings-movie-hunt-for-gollum-releasing-in-2026-with-peter-jackson-andy-serkis/

There and back again, as the famous saying goes. Bilbo Baggins felt that was the theme of his life in The Hobbit, and now life is reflecting art. We are all going there and back again to the world of The Lord of the Rings. In early 2023, we learned that new live-action The Lord of the Rings movies were in the works at Warner Bros. Discovery. And now, our most recent updates reveal that Peter Jackson will once again craft these fantasy films. Additionally, we will see these new live-action The Lord of the Rings movies sooner than we think. The first of the new The Lord of the Rings films will release in 2026. (Yes, that’s 2026, not 2006, we had to check too.) It will be titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and will focus on Andy Serkis’ Gollum.

Some fans speculated that The Hunt for Gollum would be two films but, according to Comicbook.com, writer Philippa Boyens confirmed that it is just one film. It will likely be very long. Boyens also teased more potential The Lord of the Rings movies. “…we’ve begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films. The first being The Hunt For Gollum, the second one still to be confirmed,” said Boyens.

Most recently, Elrond’s actor in The Lord of the Rings movies, Hugo Weaving, weighed in on whether he’d return for the newest films. Weaving noted he would not, saying that he did not think it would be appropriate for him to continue to play Elrond, an immortal elf.

Here’s what Weaving had to say in full about not returning to Middle-earth in The Hunt for Gollum:

Personally, I’ve had enough of that. It was great being in New Zealand on and off over a ten year period. I did then go back and work with the same team [director Peter Jackson and writer Fran Walsh] on a project called Mortal Engines which was going to be their next big franchise, but it died on its arse. So, I’ve had enough of Middle-earth I don’t imagine anyone would ask me to do it again.

Elrond is meant to be immortal and I’m aging. Elrond is one of the few characters, I think there’s only three or four of them, who spans through The Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. But even when we went back to reshoot certain parts of Lord of the Rings, I was aware I was older than I was before. And shooting stuff on The Hobbit was starting to get slightly silly. I loved being a part of that franchise but I have absolutely no plans or desires to be a part of it anymore.

Here’s what we know about The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum movie so far.

What Will the New The Lord of the Rings Movie, The Hunt for Gollum, Be About?

But what story will this new The Lord of the Rings movie tell? Well, Zaslav initially noted that it will “explore storylines yet to be told.” That could mean many things. But we certainly have a few ideas of what The Lord of the Rings tales we’d like to see on-screen. However, per Variety, the working title of the movie is The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum and it will star Andy Serkis’ Gollum. Andy Serkis will also direct the movie.

“Yesssss, Precious,” shared Serkis, “The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our filmmaking family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…”   

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy further noted, “For over two decades, moviegoers have embraced the Lord of the Rings film trilogy because of the undeniable devotion Peter [Jackson], Fran [Walsh] and Philippa [Boyens] have shown towards protecting the legacy of Tolkien’s works, and to ensure audiences could experience the incredible world he created in a way that honors his literary vision. We are honored they have agreed be our partners on these two new films. With Andy [Serkis] coming aboard to direct Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (working title), we continue an important commitment to excellence that is a true hallmark of how we all want to venture ahead and further contribute to the Lord of the Rings cinematic history.”

Peter Jackson Will Be Involved in the New The Lord of the Rings Movie

Zaslav also revealed that the genius behind the first set of live-action The Lord of the Rings movies, Peter Jackson, will return for these new films. He notes that Peter Jackson and his writing partners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens “will be involved every step of the way.” The trio is producing the Gollum movie. Walsh and Boyens will also be writing the script. They will be joined by Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.

Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens noted of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, “It is an honour and a privilege to travel back to Middle-earth with our good friend and collaborator, Andy Serkis, who has unfinished business with that Stinker — Gollum! As life long fans of Professor Tolkien’s vast mythology, we are proud to be working with Mike De Luca, Pam Abdy and the entire team at Warner Bros. on another epic adventure!”

Recently, the movie’s creators shared a little bit more about why they chose to center Gollum in the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie.

The New The Lord of the Rings Movie Will Actually Be Two Films

Sir Ian McKellen recently shared more about his possible return as Gandalf in The Hunt for Gollum. He notes he expects to see a script in 2025 and then he will decide if he should go back. But more interestingly indicates that this new The Lord of the Rings movie is actually two The Lord of the Rings movies. “I’m told it’s two films.” McKellen says.

Will We See Other The Lord of the Rings Characters or Familiar Actors in The Hunt for Gollum?

Peter Jackson revealed a bit of insight into the decision and also noted that it’s too early to tell whether other The Lord of the Rings character will appear in The Hunt for Gollum. He said, “The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic. I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there’s a little bit of both of them in all of us. We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn’t have time to cover in the earlier films. It’s too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien.”

Serkis also teased a bit about whether other familiar characters and their original The Lord of the Rings actors could appear in The Hunt for Gollum, noting, “That’s a difficult question to answer right at this moment in time, because we’re really in the nascent stages of what it is exactly where we’re doing, and where the story’s going to take us. So I don’t want to commit anything right now. I mean, because it’s so raw and so raw and wriggling, and we are just literally having very early state script discussions and ideas of exactly where and how we’re going to drop anchor with the character and his journey and how he is or comes into contact with other characters, and the characters that we know and don’t know. So still, I would hate to say anything that’s going to commit us at this point, because it’s literally all up for grabs.”

Would Any of the Original Actors Return for the New The Lord of the Rings Movie?

We haven’t yet heard from too many The Lord of the Rings actors, other than Serkis, about a return in the new The Lord of the Rings movie. But Viggo Mortensen did recently reveal that he would return as Aragorn in The Hunt for Gollum if it was right for the character.

Ian McKellen also shared he would happily return as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings movie… as long as he’s alive. McKellen has also noted that production has indicated they would like him to return.

Additionally, Orlando Bloom, who plays the elf Legolas in The Lord of the Rings movies, expressed interest in returning for the film. But his tease of what the future would look like had fans raising their eyebrows. Bloom shared, “Oh, man, those things are amazing. Yeah. I don’t know how they’d do it. I guess with AI you can do anything these days. But, if Pete [Peter Jackson] says jump, I say, ‘how high?’ I mean, he started my whole career.”

Bloom also noted, “I really don’t know what [they are planning]… I did speak to Andy [Serkis] and he did say they were thinking about how to do things. I was like, ‘How would that even work?’ And he was like, ‘Well, AI!’ and I was like, ‘Oh, OK!’ It was a pretty magical time in my life, and it’s one of those things where there’s not a downside to it.”

Personally, we’d prefer recasting these iconic roles and giving new actors a shot instead of using AI on actors who have already had their turn, depending on how heavily AI is applied in the scenario. Of course, Bloom was speaking casually, so it’s too soon to understand what level of AI might be involved. Even still though, we feel wary of the note. But we guess we’ll have to wait and see what Peter Jackson has in store.

Why Gollum as the Star of this New The Lord of the Rings Movie?

Additionally, Boyens added of selecting Gollum’s story, “Gollum’s story is one of the most compelling to us in terms of a character that we couldn’t go as deeply into as we wanted to before, which sounds strange when you say that, given how familiar he is to everybody. Gollum’s life span takes place in such an interesting period of Middle-earth. When the question was first asked, this was the first story we thought of. Because I can tell you, and people might not believe this, but we had zero expectations of going back to this. It wasn’t something we were looking to do, particularly. So when the question was asked, it was, what would draw you back? And it was about working with the people we we’re working with. It was also about the chance to work with Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy at the studio. Alan Horn is now back at the studio. It just felt right.”

Once the story of the movie settled on Gollum, Serkis was the natural choice for director if it wasn’t going to be Peter Jackson. Boyens adds, “We wanted him to tell the story of Gollum and the hunt for Gollum as soon as we decided, okay, that’s the story. And Pete knew he didn’t want to direct go back into the world of Middle-earth again. [Peter] really enjoyed working with Kenji Kamiyama, who directed War of the Rohirrim. As soon as Pete decided, okay, I’m not going to direct it myself, and it’s going to be Gollum’s story, I swear to God, there was no one else but Andy Serkis.”

Finally, Serkis revealed, “Gollum has always stuck with me throughout all of these years. I’ve read audio books of the trilogy and the Silmarillion and The Hobbit, so Tolkien’s world has never left me in all of that time since we did the first films. And the character particularly has remained such an enormous part of my life. So it’s absolutely thrilling to be able to go back and do a deep dive into his world again, and specifically into Gotham’s psychology. I know we’re all interested in investigating on a deeper level who that character is, and on top of that, to be able to direct and hopefully create a film which has its place within the canon, but also something that’s fresh and new and a different approach.”

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum Is Coming in 2026, Other New Movies on the Horizon

During Warner Bros. Discovery’s first-quarter earnings conference call, which we first saw on Variety, CEO David Zaslav dropped the precious news. He shared that Warner Bros. Discovery is “now in the early stages of script development” for the first of the new The Lord of the Rings movies. And that the company “anticipates” that The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will “release in 2026.”

Zaslav additionally noted, “Lord of the Rings’ is one of the most successful and revered franchises in history and presents a significant opportunity for theatrical business.” With a 2026 release date, we guess we’ll hear more about these The Lord of the Rings movies sooner rather than later. Of course, given the “opportunity” here, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear about more new The Lord of the Rings movies very soon.

Originally published on June 10, 2024.

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https://blacknerdproblems.com/aaron-pierre-casted-as-green-lantern-john-stewart/

When Green Lantern: The Animated Series dropped back in 2012. It was a banger that got robbed of more seasons. However, it gave me hope that a live action Green Lantern would soon come. It wasn’t soon at all. Green Lantern was in production pow for numerous years. We didn’t know if it would ever see the light of day, and if it did, would we get to see Green Lantern John Stewart or Green Lantern Hal Jordan in the lead. Twelve years later we have our answer as Aaron Pierre has been cast as John Stewart in HBO’s Green Lantern series Lanterns.

After seeing Aaron Pierre in Rebel Ridge, where he portrays a military specialist in close quarters combat and firearms, it was impossible to not to think that it makes sense for him to portray Green Lantern John Stewart. He’s got the size, demeanor, and temperament. So while some are excited about the casting and rightfully so, there’s a hard-light construct elephant in the room that’s gotta be addressed about Green Lantern John Stewart. John Stewart is a dark-skinned superhero that will now be portrayed by an actor that has a lighter complexion.

This is a thing that happens often with dark skinned characters when they move over to live action. It happens often with dark skinned black characters (Roberto De Costa), and even non Black poc characters (America Chavez). I said a thing that happens but let’s call it by name: colorism. A common occurrence in castings that effect not only dark skinned characters but dark skinned actors. However, this isn’t a reflection on Aaron Pierre or his acting ability. This isn’t suggesting that he didn’t audition his ass off or that he was handed the role. That man Aaron Pierre is going to do a fantastic job. We are simply talking about colorism as a pattern that happens in casting. That’s it. No, I’m serious, That’s legit it. You could stop reading right here.

I promise you that’s all that needs to be said. Key phrase, needs to be said. Some folks may feel that it doesn’t need to be mentioned at all because it’s one Black character portraying another Black character. What’s the issue? To which I would say, “If you’re not Black, google colorism.” If the person is Black, I would say, “Come on, fam…” I’ve said this before, I come from a long line of “I don’t wanna talk about it” but when has not talking about something ever made it better? To not acknowledge colorism happening does a discredit to those Black folk that feel affected by it. You gotta acknowledge a thing (that thing being colorism) so that we can move forward.

Again, no one is calling for Aaron Pierre to drop from the role or for the show to be boycotted. Neal Adams purposely made John Stewart a dark skinned character and colored him that way in a time where most heroes were a usually a specific shade of brown. Neal Adams, was a white comic book artist (that knew how to correctly draw black characters) dealt with this back in the 70s. Ronald Wimberly, an Black comic book writer and artist wrote/drew a whole essay in 2015 about being asked to lighten a Melita Garner, an Afro-Mexican comic book character. Acknowledging the importance of the choice to make John Stewart a dark-skinned man is an important thing. So when we see it not playing out in live action, we gotta acknowledge why folks may feel disheartened with the casting so that we move forward with Aaron Pierre playing the character. I promise you that acknowledging colorism, doesn’t mean someone is not black enough or shouldn’t have support.

It’s simply saying while this actor is dope and will do well, it would have been nice for a dark-skinned actor to have gotten the chance to run with the opportunity. That’s it. I promise you both things can be true at the same time. I swear it is possible. Zendaya is a great example of an actor that acknowledges colorism and stomps it out by going after different roles even if they call for white woman’s portrayal. This is how she uses her privilege to not take up space from dark skinned actors getting a chance at certain roles. Amandla was in the running for the role of Shuri in Black Panther then dropped out cause she felt similar in that she was taking up space where she shouldn’t. Ed Skrein is a white dude that prevented the white washing of a Hellboy character Ben Daimo by purposefully dropping the role which led to Daniel Dae Kim taking up the role.

Now trying to have these type of discussions online can feel like an mfer trying to ice skate up hill, especially when the hill are people either ignorant of colorism, don’t see the issue (because of their own privilege), or see the information and twist words around into this being Black people nitpicking or bringing a Black person down. The willful dismissal of facts and nuance got Roi Ottley and Edward R. Murrow rolling in their graves. However, it is my belief that even through that all that it entails, it is important to acknowledge an issue no matter how big or how small so that those going through it can feel seen. I’d rather say the disheartening thing and it be known so that someone who was disheartened can at least feel heard and invited to partake (if they so choose) in seeing their favorite character portrayed on screen.

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The post Aaron Pierre, Green Lantern John Stewart, and the Elephant in the Casting Room appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

https://www.themarysue.com/those-people-are-more-dangerous-its-okay-guys-donald-trump-confirmed-he-isnt-unhinged/

We can all breathe a sigh of relief, Donald Trump is not actually unhinged. Or so he states. The presidential candidate was responding to attacks from his opponent who denounced him as “unhinged” after Trump described his political opponents as the “enemy from within.” Who are these so-called enemies?

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a rally on Monday night in one of the country’s key swing states, Pennsylvania. She openly criticized her opponent’s mental faculties by describing him as “increasingly unstable and unhinged.” Trump’s mental faculties have been called into question by medical professionals as well. Harris played clips of Trump citing that “The worst people are the enemies from within,” and “Those people are more dangerous – the enemy from within – than Russia and China.” After sharing these clips at the rally, Harris addressed with the crowd,

https://www.blackenterprise.com/hgtv-kyra-epps-chicago-habitat-for-humanity/

Chicago native and award-winning HGTV producer Kyra Epps is returning to her hometown to collaborate with Habitat for Humanity Chicago on a new building project.

Following the success of Buying Back The Block, which saw Kyra and her husband, comedian/actor Mike Epps, work together to rebuild Mike’s childhood community in Indianapolis, Indiana, Kyra is back to build homes and lead workshops in partnership with ReStore Chicago. Her collaboration with Mike to rebuild his hometown inspired Kyra to do the same for her city. Now, she’s on a mission to empower fellow Chicagoans to achieve homeownership and build lasting family legacies.

“No matter how far you go or how successful you become, there’s always a need for a home base,” Kyra tells BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“Your home base is your foundation and your truth. So, when I reflect on my life and what I want for future generations, I realize it was time for me to come back home and plant that seed for homeownership.”

Driven by a deep commitment to giving back to her community and a strong belief that everyone deserves a beautiful home that boosts their self-esteem, Kyra is partnering with Habitat for Humanity Chicago. She hopes to use her platform to engage the community and teach people how to design their homes, fostering a sense of pride and ownership.

“I’ve officially joined Habitat for Humanity Chicago as their Community Impact Partner, and I’m excited about what we can achieve together,” Kyra says.

“My goals are twofold: first, to educate people about homeownership so they can return to their communities and help break down the barriers that often hold them back,” she adds. “Second, I felt it was crucial for women like me to be visible in these roles, driving change in our own neighborhoods. As a Black woman, I know how important it is to be part of that transformation, and I’m committed to making a difference in my community.”

Kyra and Mike’s time hosting Buying Up The Block became one of the most-streamed home renovation shows, but its success went beyond TV ratings. It resonated deeply with the Epps, highlighting the meaningful impact they could have as public figures in their hometowns.

“Mike and I really get the importance of family and legacy,” she shares. “He invested in his grandma’s house from the 1960s because keeping it in the family was so meaningful to him.”

“After the HGTV show aired, we realized our impact went beyond just us,” she adds. “People started feeling inspired to return to their childhood homes and pour love back into the communities that raised them. Honestly, that inspired me, too—I wanted my kids to see the light from my side of the family.”

Kyra also recalled another motivation.

“My family lost our family home in Chicago for generations, like so many families in Chicago are displaced. That’s when I knew it was time for me to return to my home, to the city that made me who I am, and bring that same love and attention,” she says.

The HGTV star and home designer is reeling over the purchase of her first property on the West Side of Chicago.

“I’m really excited about it!” she says.

On October 12 in Chicago, Kyra will join other women at Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build event to construct a home alongside Habitat for Humanity. Those interested in donating to Team Kyra for Women Build can click here.

RELATED CONTENT: Mike Epps Is ‘Buying Back The Block’ In Indiana For HGTV Show