For fans of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies, the most exciting aspect of Andy Serkis’ upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is its returning cast. Actors like Sir Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, and Elijah Wood are set to reprise their famous Middle-earth characters, but some will play larger parts than others. In an interview with GamesRadar+, Wood revealed that Frodo Baggins will have a small role in The Hunt for Gollum.
Though Wood did not elaborate further, it is likely that Frodo will only appear at the start and the end of the story to tie into Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, just as Sir Ian Holm’s Bilbo Baggins did in The Hobbit trilogy. This is undoubtedly sad news for fans of Wood and the character he portrayed, but there is an upside. Frodo’s minimal involvement in The Hunt for Gollum will be accurate to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novel, and it is a sign that Serkis will maintain the integrity of Jackson’s original trilogy.
Frodo Baggins Was Not Involved in Gandalf’s Search for Gollum
The Hunt for Gollum will be set between the years 3001 and 3018 of the Third Age, after Bilbo’s 111th birthday party but before Gandalf told Frodo about the nature of the One Ring. As Tolkien described in the chapter “The Shadow of the Past” from The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo did little of note during that time period.
CBR Exclusive · Quiz WHICH LORD OF THE RINGS CHARACTER ARE YOU? One Quiz to Find Them All From the rolling hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom, every soul in Middle-earth carries a destiny. Twenty questions stand between you and the truth. Answer honestly. The shadow does not lie.
Frodo
Samwise
Aragorn
Gandalf
Gollum
01
You are asked to carry a terrible burden that no one else can bear. What do you do? The first step into darkness reveals everything.
02
Your closest companion is walking into grave danger. You: Loyalty is forged in the fires of the hardest moments.
03
You possess knowledge that could change the fate of many. You: What we do with knowledge shapes the world.
04
How do you make important decisions? A character’s choices reveal their deepest nature.
05
You are offered something you deeply desire — at a moral cost. You: Temptation is the test every soul must face alone.
06
How do you see yourself in the world? Self-knowledge is the beginning of all true power.
07
When darkness closes in, your instinct is to: Crisis strips away pretense and reveals the true self.
08
Your greatest personal flaw is: Even the wisest are not without shadow.
09
Others look to you for guidance in a desperate moment. You: How we lead in darkness defines us entirely.
10
What drives you more than anything else? The heart’s true desire is the root of all journeys.
11
You have reached your lowest point. The road ahead seems impossible. You: The darkest hour is the truest test of character.
12
You discover a great power that could be used for good — in the right hands. You: The wise know that the road to ruin is paved with good intentions.
13
What do you fear most? Our deepest fears map the shape of our souls.
14
Those who meet you for the first time would say: First impressions in Middle-earth carry great weight.
15
Where do you feel most yourself? A soul’s true home reveals its deepest nature.
16
What do you believe about hope? In the darkest ages, hope is the most radical act.
17
When your journey is over, what do you want to leave behind? The end of a tale gives meaning to all that came before.
18
You must give up something precious to save others. You: Sacrifice is the truest measure of what we value.
19
What does friendship mean to you? In Middle-earth, the bonds between souls are the greatest magic of all.
20
At the end of all things, when everything is on the line, you: This is the question that decides everything.
THE SHADOW KNOWS YOUR HEART YOUR MIDDLE-EARTH SOUL
Your scores are shown below. The character with the highest number is your match. Read their description to discover which soul of Middle-earth the darkness chose for you.
Frodo
Samwise
Aragorn
Gandalf
Gollum
You carry more than anyone knows, and you carry it quietly. You did not choose your burden — but you accepted it when no one else would, and you bore it further than anyone thought possible. Your courage is not the loud kind. It is the kind that keeps moving when every step costs something. Gentle, introspective, and tested to the very edge of yourself.
Steadfast, warm, and quietly extraordinary. You are not driven by glory or destiny — you are driven by love, plain and simple. Your loyalty is absolute, your heart is vast, and your courage runs deeper than anyone who underestimates you will ever expect. You show up for the people you love without being asked, without keeping score, without ever wavering. The world needs more of you.
You have long walked in the shadows of a destiny you were not sure you deserved. Duty-bound, weathered by experience, and deeply principled — you lead not because you sought it, but because others needed you to. You carry old burdens with quiet dignity, and when the moment finally demands everything from you, you do not flinch. The crown was always yours. You simply had to be ready for it.
Ancient, perceptive, and capable of both great warmth and terrible wrath. You see the shape of things others cannot, and you guide more than you command — nudging, trusting, occasionally arriving precisely when you mean to. You have known grief and persisted through it. Your wisdom is hard-won and your faith in others, even when they falter, is your greatest strength and your most defining quality.
You are a soul divided — pulled between who you once were and what you have become. You have been shaped by loss, obsession, and a wound that never healed. What others see as your weakness was once your innocence. There is tragedy in you, and perhaps still a flicker of something salvageable. You are a reminder that the road to darkness is walked one small compromise at a time.
Frodo lived by himself in Bag End, and he primarily spent his days “tramping over the Shire” and exploring the wilderness, sometimes accompanied by Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, and Fredegar Bolger. Frodo continued to host feasts on his and Bilbo’s shared birthdays, but none were nearly as eventful as Bilbo’s farewell party. Likewise, Gandalf occasionally visited the Shire, but he did not tell Frodo anything about the One Ring or about his and Aragorn’s search for Gollum.
It therefore makes sense that Frodo will be largely absent from The Hunt for Gollum. Remaining faithful to the source material is not the only reason that limiting Frodo’s involvement in the film is a wise choice. While Serkis and his team could invent a new storyline for Frodo, such a thing would retroactively harm the masterful storytelling of Jackson’s trilogy.
Frodo Baggins Would Not Work Well in a The Lord of the Rings Prequel
The One Ring projecting its inscription onto Frodo Baggins’ face in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingImage via New Line Cinema / Courtesy the Everett Collection
Frodo’s innocence and inexperience were key to his character arc in The Lord of the Rings. Unlike the other members of the Fellowship, Frodo and his hobbit friends were not warriors prior to their quest, nor had they ever ventured further than the borders of the Shire. Having grown up hearing Bilbo’s stories, Frodo longed for an adventure of his own, but he did not truly understand what this would entail.
Over the course of the trilogy, Frodo’s eagerness, joy, and naïveté gradually eroded away. Frodo was left severely traumatized, contributing to his eventual decision to leave Middle-earth forever by sailing to the Undying Lands. Frodo’s sacrifice was a necessary tragedy, because someone more world-weary would have been susceptible to the One Ring’s corruptive influence.
Frodo was able to resist the One Ring for as long as he did because he started from a place of moral purity. If The Hunt for Gollum were to send Frodo on a quest beyond the Shire or somehow increase his knowledge of the War of the Ring, his arc in The Lord of the Rings would retroactively become far less compelling.
Prequels run the risk of creating plot holes or undermining the themes of the stories upon which they are based, but The Hunt for Gollum will avoid this, at least in regard to Frodo. Fans have many reservations about The Hunt for Gollum, which is only natural for a continuation of a film franchise as beloved as The Lord of the Rings. However, Frodo’s small role proves that Serkis cares about keeping the characters and worldbuilding of Jackson’s original trilogy intact.
Video Game(s)
LEGO Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings Online, The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth, The Lord of The Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth 2, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
First Film
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Cast
Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Sean Bean, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Martin Freeman, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Richard Armitage
