It's been almost 15 years since Andy Serkis last graced the screen as Stoor Hobbit Gollum, the afficionado of "precious" rings in the legendary Lord of The Rings franchise.
Hence why Middle-earth devotees are having trouble containing their excitement for his return to his iconic, motion capture role in 2027's The Lord of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum, for which the multi-talented actor and motion capture artist will also be taking directorial duties.
Also returning to from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies respectively will be Lee Pace, Elijah Wood, and Ian McKellen, who will be joined by starry newcomers to the franchise such as Jamie Dornan, Anna Taylor-Joy, Kate Winslet, and Leo Woodall.
While the glittering cast list certainly stirred up plenty of excitement, many couldn't help but notice that the currently announced cast was also all-White. That was a decision Serkis recently defended during a recent interview with the BBC.
Serkis said the fact that The Lord of The Rings author J.R.R Tolkien based his novels on Norse mythology somewhat justified the lack of diversity, also pointing out that the shires in which the bulk of the characters lived were sheltered, insular communities:
“Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there’s a lot of that feeling.”
“The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know…"
"They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in.”
While Serkis acknowledged there were "some criticisms," he also said:
"This particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But I don't think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film."
As one would expect, people had a lot to say regarding Serkis' remarks on social media. What might be more surprising, however, is that Serkis's remarks were largely defended.
Many users on X (formerly Twitter) found Serkis' logic fairly sound, even if some pointed out that mythology is not history:
Reddit users also felt Serkis made a valid point, with some saying that more stories about underrepresented communities need to be made, rather than simply casting people of color in White stories:
"So there won't be a Tolkien black guy?" -EnvironmentEntire201
"I think it's worth calling out massive corporations/studios for overdriving (the highly admirable goal of) representation because they perceived it as trendy and marketable. Those hollow corporations had the opposite impact by undermining stories and characters featuring people of color by watering down casting into decision-by-committee, check mark, and equation based slop." -Brepp
"I think a diverse cast is a good thing, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that this movie doesn’t have one.
People really need to calm down."-ParhTracer
There were also more than a few who couldn't help but wonder why The Hunt For Gollum was even being made in the first place:
"They should be asking why a Gollum movie when there are so many more interesting stories they could do." -Competitive-Elk-5077
"I don't understand how Serkis was able to get this (likely very expensive) directing role considering his track record. Is he paying for some of it? Were they just sick of hearing him beg to make the movie?" -Gaelfling
"Wow, surely now the awful-sounding Gollum movie that nobody wants will be good." -DrMeat64
This isn't the first time that casting the citizens of Middle-earth has caused controversy. The Amazon Prime prequel series The Rings Of Power featured several actors of color in its cast, resulting in racist backlash from diehard Tolkien fans.
The cast of the Rings of Power clapped back at their critics, and Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan all stood in solidarity with them, posting a picture on social media of the trio wearing a T-shirt with characters from the series in many different skin tones.
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