The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum will employ the expertise of AI for a specific, limited task, as revealed by Andy Serkis. As the production of The Hunt for Gollum goes in full gear, Serkis teases new details from the prequel that will see him returning as Gollum as well as taking the director's chair. The movie that has been in the making since December 2025 has been constantly in the headlines for bringing the backstory of one of the most iconic characters from the series to the big screen.

Now, the movie has attracted even more eyeballs with the revelation of AI usage in the film.

In an interview with Variety dated July 13, Andy Serkis, who will be directing and reprising his role as Gollum, disclosed that artificial intelligence will be used in the upcoming Lord of the Rings film, but for a limited purpose. When asked about his plans to use AI in the making of The Hunt for Gollum, he replied only for de-aging.

“Not at present, other than some of the de-aging. There’s a little bit of de-aging for some of the characters and machine learning is part of the process,” Serkis answered.

He gave the example of MASSIVE, a program created by Peter Jackson for the original Lord of the Rings movie, which allowed thousands of orcs to each have their own unique mindset. Thus, that is a fantastic illustration of an amazing application of AI, substantiating that the franchise has always embraced growing technological advancements in the process of production.

However, he clarified while speaking to Variety that they did not use AI to create any of the shots in the upcoming prequel. Instead, they used traditional methods, bringing back all of the classic filmmaking techniques - from prosthetics to miniatures. Serkis notes that blending them up was one of the things he really wanted to achieve with this movie because that is what he likes. He enjoys it when he gets to experiment with new filmmaking methods.

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Although he revealed that he is using AI for de-aging, Serkis refused to answer who. But we might have an idea of who he might use it on.

Lord of the Rings fans will see more recognizable faces in The Hunt for Gollum than just Andy Serkis' Gollum. Returning to their roles as Gandalf, Frodo Baggins, and King Thranduil are franchise veterans Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, and Lee Pace. And since they primarily appear in the original trilogy, which happens after the events of The Hunt for Gollum, they surely need heavy de-aging to make up for the time lost in the 23 years since the release of the last movie of the trilogy.

Kate Winslet plays Marigol, Leo Woodall plays Halvard, Anya Taylor-Joy plays Seren, and Jamie Dornan plays Strider/Aragorn, replacing Viggo Mortensen. However, since these actors will be appearing for the first time in the franchise, they do not need de-aging as much as the franchise veterans. The decision to use AI carefully just for a specific task seems to be a sensible approach that respects Hollywood's concern for an AI takeover while also keeping up with the changing times. 

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