{"id":610005,"date":"2026-09-24T06:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610005\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T06:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T06:44:12","slug":"middle-earth-back-in-nz-first-look-at-the-set-of-new-lotr-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610005\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle-earth back in NZ: First look at the set of new LOTR film"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand is once again standing in for Middle-earth, with Warner Bros releasing a first look from the local set of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.<\/p>\n

The images, posted to the studio’s TikTok page for Hobbit Day on Tuesday, show Hobbits in the Shire and director Andy Serkis working behind a camera.<\/p>\n

\"Elijah<\/p>\n

Elijah Wood’s Frodo Baggins, pictured from behind on the New Zealand set of The Hunt for Gollum. (Source: Warner Bros.)<\/p>\n

Frodo Baggins, played by Elijah Wood, appears only from behind.<\/p>\n

The prequel marks the latest Middle-earth production to film in New Zealand, following Sir Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies. It is due for release on December 17, 2027.<\/p>\n

\"Hobbits<\/p>\n

Hobbits gather in the Shire in a behind-the-scenes image released for Hobbit Day. (Source: Warner Bros.)<\/p>\n

Serkis, who played Gollum in both trilogies, is directing and returning to the role. Sir Peter will be the executive producer, saying<\/a> “there’s no one on this Earth better equipped to tackle Gollum’s story than Andy”.<\/p>\n

Serkis told 1News in 2024<\/a> he was excited to reunite with the local crew he had worked with for years, and praised the storytelling approach of producers Sir Peter, Dame Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.<\/p>\n

“I love the work ethos in New Zealand.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Shire comes back to life for The Hunt for Gollum, due in cinemas in December 2027. (Source: Warner Bros.)<\/p>\n

He is joined by Ian McKellen as Gandalf<\/a>, Wood as Frodo and Lee Pace as elven king Thranduil. <\/p>\n

Jamie Dornan replaces Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, and Anya Taylor-Joy plays a new elf named Seren.<\/p>\n

The New Zealand Film Commission said the production was expected to lift the local screen industry. It estimated international productions bring roughly $1.3 billion into the country each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand is once again standing in for Middle-earth, with Warner Bros releasing a first look from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[156,9001,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-610005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-hamilton-waikato","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}