Jamie Dornan has been confirmed to play Aragon in The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum.
The Irish star, who recently hosted Saturday Night Live UK, was among the new and returning stars announced for the latest entry in the J.R.R. Tolkien big-screen saga at Warner Bros.’ CinemaCon presentation in Las Vegas last night (April 14).
It comes after it was previously reported that Viggo Mortensen would not be returning to play the pivotal role.
Other new faces include Kate Winslet, who was reported to have joined the cast last month, who will play Marigol and Leo Woodall will play a character called Halvard.
Returning faces as expected include Elijah Wood, who will reprise his role as Frodo Baggins and Ian McKellen who returns to play Gandalf The Grey. Director of The Lord Of The Rings prequel Andy Serkis, will also reprise his role as Gollum and Lee Pace, who played Thranduil in The Hobbit is back.
The film will focus on the events that took place between The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, with Aragorn and Gandalf setting out to find Gollum and learn more about Bilbo Baggins’ ring.
The film is currently slated for a December 17, 2027 release and will see Peter Jackson returning as a producer, along with his partners from the earlier films, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
To coincide with Tolkien Reading Day last month, Jackson recently gave an update on the film’s progress. “Andy is doing a terrific job. It’s looking amazing,” he said. “The script is coming together really well and I think it’s going to be a really good film.”
Released between 2001 and 2003, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy was a celebrated hit, winning a combined 17 Oscars and making over $2.9billion (£2.1billion) worldwide. A trilogy based on The Hobbit book was released between 2012 and 2014, also directed by Jackson. The three movies made around the same amount at the box office as their predecessors. A TV series, The Rings Of Power, debuted in 2022 on Prime Video, but is not officially connected to the films.
It was also recently announced that another film, The Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Of The Past, is in development too. It will pick up 14 years after the passing of Frodo Baggins and will follow Sam, Merry and Pippin as they retrace the first steps of their adventure. Long-time Tolkien fan Stephen Colbert is co-writing the film alongside his son.