Andy Serkis Not Interested in Playing Gollum in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Television Series

Andy Serkis, who rose to fame with his portrayal of Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy, revealed that he is not interested in reprising his character in Amazon’s upcoming television series. Serkis, best known for his motion capture work of digital characters, told reporters that he thought the show’s creators would probably want to start off the series with a fresh take on the character, telling reporters, “If I was anyone making those, they’re obviously going to want to start fresh and create something brand new. And that’s how it should be.” Serkis added that he thought the show’s producers might look to Disney’s recent work with The Jungle Book live action film as the series moves forward, where the film’s creative department told the story in a new way.

News  on IGN of Serkis passing on the series comes as rumors mount on Amazon’s secretive project. Earlier this week, news came out that the series would focus on a young Aragorn, who was played by Danish-American actor Viggo Mortensen in Jackson’s films. While Amazon has yet to comment on these rumors and no casting information has been announced, if Aragorn is chosen to be the focus of the series, it will give the show’s writers a lot of leeway in the stories they can tell in the series. Unlike most characters in The Lord of the Rings book series, author J.R.R. Tolkien did not provide very many details on Aragorn’s life prior to the story’s main plot. The only plot points that are specifically mentioned in the life of Aragorn prior to the books is that he grew up in the Elven sanctuary of Rivendell and spent years wandering the forests of Middle Earth, training as a warrior and honing his skills as a hunter.

Amazon is taking multiple steps to make sure that series will be a success. Having already ordered five seasons for the show, the company plans to spend as much as $500 million on the first two seasons. The series as a whole could cost Amazon well over $1 billion dollars to produce. Additionally, Amazon is trying to get Peter Jackson on-board to serve as an executive producer. While Jackson has not commented yet on if he will join the series, his attorney did confirm earlier this year that the filmmaker had been approached by Amazon.