Elijah Wood Teases “Family Reunion” On Set of Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (Exclusive)

After nearly 30 years away from the Shire, Elijah Wood is returning to the Lord of the Rings universe in the upcoming Hunt for Gollum movie.

Both Frodo (Wood) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) are confirmed to appear in the Andy Serkis-directed project, which takes place between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.

Elijah Wood details return to Lord of the Rings in The Hunt for Gollum

“It feels like a family reunion," Wood recently told SYFY Wire in an exclusive interview. "In a lot of ways it feels like getting the band back together creatively, of folks who had been part of the Lord of the Rings universe for the last 27 years, which is insane. I’m thrilled to go back to New Zealand, thrilled to bring my family. Any chance to revisit that place with those people just feels like a family reunion."

Serkis, of course, will reprise the motion-captured Gollum, who is being tracked by a young Aragorn (Jamie Dornan taking over the role from Viggo Mortensen). The future king of Gondor hopes to find Sméagol and the One Ring before Sauron has a chance to use the bling's dark power. Kate Winslet (Marigol), Lee Pace (Elven monarch Thranduil) and Leo Woodall (Halvard, a member of Aragorn's hunting party) co-star.

"Revisiting a character that has never really left me, and this time stepping into the directorial shoes of the man who created these important movies that have affected so many people’s lives over the course of the last quarter of a century," Serkis wrote in a piece for Empire magazine. "We have a very specific task ahead of us. A return to Middle-earth, that satisfies the passion and the love that generations of Lord of the Rings fans have for these stories, whilst also presenting something completely fresh and new for first-timers to Middle-earth, with one of Tolkien’s richest and most complex characters at its heart."

Philippa Boyens (a creative on both LotR trilogies) penned the screenplay with The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim co-writers Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. Peter Jackson, meanwhile, serves as producer.