Veteran actor Andy Serkis, known in part for his role as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film series, is set to return for another Middle Earth project, but it’s not a new film or TV series.
Serkis told Collider that he will narrate an upcoming audiobook version of JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. Serkis let this slip as part of a larger comment about his reaction to Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Serkis said he wanted and enjoyed the series, calling it “incredibly exciting”.
Serkis previously recorded the audiobook for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and also read the appendices, from which he draws some of his material for The Rings of Power. In this comment in particular, Serkis revealed that he is also working on an audiobook version of The Silmarillion.
“Because I had recorded a Lord of the Rings audiobook and I had read the appendices and had to read them out loud, I had an idea of where it was going, which was great, and it was really helpful because I’m going to be – don’t tell anyone – also read The Silmarillion. That’s how you heard this first,” he said.
It’s apparently still early days for Serkis’ The Silmarillion audiobook, so there’s no word yet on when it will be released or other details. The Silmarillion, first published in 1977 after Tolkien’s death, digs deep into the history of Middle-earth and is known to be a very dense and challenging book to read.
Serkis currently stars in the Star Wars TV series Andor as Imperial prisoner Kino Loy. It’s just the latest Star Wars role for Serkis, who previously played Supreme Leader Snoke in the new Star Wars series.
In other Lord of the Rings news, Warner Bros. Discovery recently confirmed that it still holds the rights to The Lord of the Rings films following Embracer’s acquisition of Middle-earth Enterprises.
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