New The Lord of the Rings movies could star characters like Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, and other familiar faces. The Lord of the Rings franchise is on the precipice of breaking into new ground thanks to Prime Video's The Rings of Power TV show. While the series presents fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's novels with a potential new long-running story, the franchise's movie future has also been reinvigorated recently. Peter Jackson previously made a trilogy of Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies for Warner Bros., but the last film was released in theaters in 2014.

Due to the long gap between installments, the film rights expired and opened the doorway for a new studio to step in and shape the franchise's big screen future. The announcement that the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit rights were for sale came in February 2022. Amazon was touted as a strong contender to acquire the rights so they could do more with Middle Earth beyond The Rings of Power. However, it has been revealed that a Swedish video-game and media conglomerate called Embracer Group AB won the Lord of the Rings bidding war. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Embracer now has the power to produce movies, shows, video games, and more based on a variety of Tolkien's books, including Lord of the Rings.

Embracer Group officially announced its acquisition of the Lord of the Rings movie rights on Thursday, and the company's press release included a tease of what their plans include. Some early thoughts for new Lord of the Rings movies include telling stories centered around some of the franchise's more recognizable characters. Embracer Group mentions Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, and Éowyn as some potential stars for future Lord of the Rings movies. No official plans for solo movies starring them have been announced.


All the characters in consideration to star in new Lord of the Rings movies were part of the original trilogy of films made by Jackson. Audiences previously met Ian McKellan's Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn, Andy Serkis' Gollum, Cate Blanchett's Galadriel, and Miranda Otto's Éowyn. It should not be expected that any of these actors would return for these new films, as the next Lord of the Rings movies will need a younger group of performers to play these characters.

While there is no movement on any future Lord of the Rings films at this point, it is quite clear that Embracer wants to take full advantage of Tolkien's popular world. Mentioning these characters in particular is likely not a coincidence, though, as each of them has room for more stories to be told, while other characters like Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, or Legolas have already had much of their stories explored. Galadriel being considered is intriguing, though, given her prominent role in The Rings of Power. Hopefully, it will not be too long from now before the studio begins to crystalize plans for the next batch of The Lord of the Rings movies and figure out what characters will be involved.