British actor Andy Serkis already had around 35 acting credits to his name before he landed the role of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it was this role that propelled him to fame and made him synonymous with motion-captured performances. He has since gone on to many more acting roles – both as ‘himself’ and as various creatures such as Caesar in Planet of the Apes. He is also now directing projects such as Mowgli and Venom 2.
The role of Gollum will probably always be the one most closely associated with Serkis – despite him now appearing in the MCU (as Ulysses Klaue), as the voice of Snoke in Star Wars, as Alfred the Butler in The Batman, and dipping his toe back in Star Wars – as Kino Loy in Andor. Therefore, in a recent interview with Collider, he was of course asked about The Rings of Power – the big-budget Lord of the Rings prequel series.
“Yeah, I absolutely watched it, and it really – once you get through understanding the rules of it, and actually how loyal to the trilogy and the feel of the trilogy music by Howard Shore for the opening sequence, et cetera – I found it incredibly engaging, and I really, really enjoyed watching it.”
“And also, because I’d done an audiobook recording of The Lord of the Rings, and read the appendices, and had to read them out loud, I was quite clued up about where it was going to go, which was great, and it was really helpful because I’m going to be – don’t tell anybody – reading The Silmarillion [for an audiobook], as well. So you heard this first. Yeah, so I really enjoyed it, very much so.”
It sounds as though Serkis isn’t ready to leave Middle-earth, and neither are we. The first season of Rings of Power has left us with many burning questions, and we cannot wait until season two to see them answered.
If you’re eager to learn more – we have more Rings of Power guides than you can shake a Sting at. Find out more about the Harfoots and much, much more!