Andy Serkis confirms he won't direct Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings movie

Andy Serkis has confirmed he won't direct Stephen Colbert's upcoming The Lord of the Rings movie.

The British actor is currently in New Zealand in production on his next directorial effort, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, in which he will also reprise his role as Gollum via motion capture.

That isn't the only Lord of the Rings movie in development - late-night talk show host Colbert is writing a brand-new feature, The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, with his son Peter McGee and screenwriter Philippa Boyens.

During an interview with BBC News, Serkis confirmed that a director has already been found for the project - and it is not him.

"I think that that post has been taken, put it that way," he said cryptically. "That's going to be a fascinating story too. I know it's something that Stephen's very, very excited about being part of."

Serkis's film is set between The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, while Colbert's project will be based on six chapters towards the start of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring novel. These chapters weren't used in Peter Jackson's 2001 film adaptation.

The Hunt for Gollum stars returning cast members Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Lee Pace alongside franchise newcomers Kate Winslet, Leo Woodall, Anya Taylor-Joy and Jamie Dornan as the new Strider/Aragorn.

When asked why all of his cast are white, the King Kong actor defended the lack of diversity in the line-up, saying, "Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there's a lot of that feeling."

"The Shire (the hobbits' home) feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know," he continued. "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."

Serkis noted that "there have been criticisms" about the predominantly white cast in the previous films and added, "This particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But we don't think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it's only where relevant basically."

Further casting announcements are expected in the coming months.

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will be released on 17 December 2027.