The Lord of the Rings series is undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed fantasy trilogies in Hollywood. All three movies were nominated for several accolades and even won a lot of those. Numerous characters from the series have their own fanbase and gained a huge amount of recognition for how well they were portrayed.
One such character is Gollum portrayed by Andy Serkis who is widely known for his motion capture roles which include voice-over work for CGI characters in some of the most beloved franchises. Besides the fact that Gollum is a monster, he has a distinctive style of speech. He once revealed how he came up with the unique voice for the character.
Andy Serkis on how he came up with the voice for Gollum
Andy Serkis made his film debut in 1994 with a role in the film Prince of Jutland. He first gained public attention for his role as Gollum, also known as Sméagol, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s eponymous novel series. The character is quite complex and is an interesting one because of the conflict between his internal and Ring-corrupted selves.
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Serkis is the one who brought the character to life and convincingly brought the career to the screen. It was not an easy process because CGI characters were not that common and Gollum was not a character that had been done before. So, it was a quite challenging process for him, but he played it to perfection.
In an interview with the American Film Institute, he reflected on how he came up with the voice for the character.
This is the gospel truth: whilst I was thinking and preparing and working on the character, my cat, one of my three cats, came into my kitchen and started coughing up a furball. […] And I was thinking, well, this is really interesting as I’m watching. And then he started to literally go like that, and I thought, well, that might be very interesting if that then suddenly he—so that’s kind of how the voice started to—that’s how the voice started to come out.
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That is certainly a very bizarre incident to draw inspiration from, but we can hardly complain considering how well Serkis played the character. Not to mention that we have one of his cats to thank for inspiring him or we might have had a very different version of him now.
Andy Serkis is returning as the director of the next The Lord of the Rings movie
As far as career progression is concerned, Serkis has gone from being an actor to a director and producer. The next The Lord of the Rings film titled The Hunt for Gollum will see the Black Panther actor put on the director’s hat (via Variety).
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Peter Jackson, the director of the original trilogy, and his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are producing the movie. In a statement, Serkis said:
Yesssss, Precious. The time has come once more to venture into the unknown with my dear friends, the extraordinary and incomparable guardians of Middle Earth Peter, Fran and Philippa. With Mike and Pam, and the Warner Bros team on the quest as well, alongside WETA and our filmmaking family in New Zealand, it’s just all too delicious…
He will be reprising his character as Gollum. So, fans need not worry about the fate of the character or even the movie considering that the star has years of experience in this field, and Jackson will also be overseeing the production.
Frequently asked questions
How did Andy Serkis come up with Gollum’s voice?
Serkis has said the voice grew out of watching one of his cats cough up a hairball in his kitchen while he was preparing for the role. He studied the cat’s hacking, choking movements and sounds, and that guttural throat noise became the basis for how Gollum’s voice came out, as he recounted in an American Film Institute interview.
Who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films and who directed them?
Andy Serkis played Gollum through groundbreaking motion-capture performance in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003), all directed by Peter Jackson. Fully performance-driven CGI characters were still rare at the time, which made Gollum a landmark in the field.
Is Andy Serkis returning as Gollum in a new Lord of the Rings movie?
Yes. Serkis is set to reprise Gollum and also direct The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens are producing, with Walsh and Boyens among the screenwriters. The film is currently scheduled for a December 17, 2027 theatrical release, with shooting reported for 2026.
