- Primary Subject: The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins)
- Key Update: Elijah Wood expressed awe over stepping back into Frodo's shoes, noting that working with a younger crew who grew up adoring the original trilogy added a whole new layer of reverence to filming.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: November 13, 2026
- Quick Answer: Elijah Wood felt like no time had passed filming The Hunt for Gollum, but was surprised by the deep reverence from the younger crew members.
Elijah Wood is set to return to Middle-earth in the upcoming The Hunt for Gollum, but he didn't expect the experience of reuniting with The Lord of the Rings cast 23 years after The Return of the King.
After successfully destroying the One Ring and restoring peace to Middle-earth in the original LOTR trilogy, fans are about to witness the search for Gollum before the Dark Lord Sauron captures the creature and extracts information about the One Ring and the Shire in the upcoming prequel film.
With The Hunt for Gollum bringing back several major stars from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, what does Wood have to say about reuniting with his former co-stars?
What Did Elijah Wood Say About His Return in The Hunt for Gollum?
Elijah Wood is expected to appear in some of the major scenes in The Hunt for Gollum to help frame the story.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) meets Frodo and his uncle Bilbo Baggins (Sir Ian Holm) as he begins to suspect that Bilbo’s ring is the One Ring and sets out to prove it.
With filming for The Hunt for Gollum now wrapped, Wood talks about what it feels like to work with his The Lord of the Rings co-stars again.
“It was beautiful. It was like no time had passed,” he told Deadline. “It felt like stepping back into time: Looking down, having the sort of muscle memory of like, ‘I’ve seen these feet this way; I know this wardrobe. And that feeling is so wild, it’s so transportive, it’s like suddenly 27 years are gone, and you’re back in it again. So that was very lovely and special.”
By the looks of it, returning to Middle-earth has become a deeply personal experience for Wood, allowing him to reunite with former co-stars and revisit a franchise that catapulted him to stardom.
How Was Filming The Hunt for Gollum Different for Elijah Wood?
Production on The Hunt for Gollum officially began in July and recently wrapped up in November.
Now that filming is complete, Elijah Wood can't help but reflect on the differences between working on Andy Serkis' movie and the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
“I think one of the things I hadn’t anticipated… this many years on, the crew is now largely younger people, and they all grew up on these films,” he revealed. “And that’s a whole other element that I just didn’t even think about! But there’s a reverence for these movies. We just made them; of course we revere them, but we’re the ones who made them.”
One thing that genuinely surprised Wood was the admiration younger crew members have for LOTR, something he had never anticipated experiencing when returning to the franchise.
“Just the reverence for those movies and those characters, and seeing Gandalf walk onto set was like an awe-inspiring moment for people who had grown [up watching] those movies,” he continued.
Fans will soon get to witness this highly anticipated reunion when The Hunt for Gollum arrives in theaters on December 17, 2027, bringing another chapter of Middle-earth to the big screen.