The Hunt for Gollum 2 (2025)
Genre: Fantasy | Adventure | Action
Directed by: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Andy Serkis, Viggo Mortensen, Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo
Plot Summary:
Middle-earth lies in an uneasy calm. Though the One Ring has been destroyed and Sauron defeated, shadows still cling to the edges of forgotten forests and ancient ruins. Gollum—the twisted creature once torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his obsession with the Ring—was believed dead. But in secret places, whispers say otherwise…
Years after the War of the 
Ring, King Aragorn Elessar reigns over a peaceful Gondor. But when a patrol vanishes near the Mountains of Shadow, Aragorn sends Rangers of the North to investigate. They return with a haunting tale: a half-seen figure with glowing eyes and inhuman speed—one that mutters of “precious” in the dark.
Aragorn, fearing that Gollum might have survived the fall into Mount Doom, seeks out Gandalf the White, who warns him: “If Gollum lives, he carries more than memory—he carries madness that can awaken what sleeps beneath the world.”
To prevent a new evil from rising, Aragorn secretly leads a small band of warriors north into the ruins of Dol Guldur, where Gollum was once held captive by Sauron. Among them is Elandra, an elven tracker from Lothlórien, and Thalen, a young Gondorian scribe obsessed with the old tales of the Ring.
Gollum, it is revealed, did not perish in the fires of Mount Doom. His body twisted by shadow, his mind shattered, he survives in the deep roots of Middle-earth, where the lost things of the world crawl.
In his madness, Gollum has discovered something terrible—a shard of Morgoth’s will, left behind in the First Age. It whispers to him, offering a new “precious,” a power older and darker than the Ring. Gollum begins collecting fragments of dark magic and drawing followers—creatures once loyal to Sauron, now eager for a new master.
Aragorn’s party tracks Gollum into the Grey Mountains, where they find a village reduced to ash and riddled with strange markings—symbols from the ancient Black Speech, but altered, corrupted.
Gollum watches from the shadows, setting traps, muttering to the voices in his head. He blames Aragorn for taking the Ring, for letting him burn, and now seeks vengeance. But deep inside, Smeagol still fights—a flickering trace of goodness, confused and lost.
The party finally confronts Gollum in the ruins of Angmar, where the shard of Morgoth pulses with malevolent energy. Gollum, now twisted and glowing with unnatural strength, uses the shard to summon the spirits of the Barrow-downs, threatening to unleash them upon the world.
Aragorn pleads with him, reminding Gollum of Frodo’s mercy, of Smeagol’s final chance. For a brief moment, the creature falters—Smeagol remembers a time when he felt kindness, when he followed a good master.
But the shard’s pull is too strong.
In a heartbreaking battle, the group defeats the dark spirits, and Aragorn is forced to destroy the shard—causing a violent reaction that fatally wounds Gollum. In his final breath, Gollum whispers, “Smeagol... tried...” before fading into dust.
Back in Minas Tirith, Aragorn decrees that the name of Gollum be remembered—not as a villain, but as a tragic soul, caught between forces beyond his control. Gandalf reflects that the last echo of the Ring’s corruption has finally vanished.
Thalen begins writing a new tale: The Last Hunt, chronicling the redemption and ruin of one of Middle-earth’s most haunted figures.
And far in the West, on the shores of Valinor, a white ship sails—carrying with it the peace of a world at last healed.
