As the anime Lord of the Rings film The War of the Rohirrim is set to debut in cinemas this month, Middle Earth movies screenwriter Philippa Boyens has spoken out on the franchise's future.

Speaking with The Playlist, she said: “If there’s an appetite for it, we’ve got more stories. There’s a ton of stories left to be told there and some really, really interesting ones.

“But my preference would be, after Hunt for Gollum, would be to look at those stand-alone stories.

“And then if we got really ambitious—there are some epic, particular stories that could translate into that more traditional epic trilogy format that was the original Lord of the Rings, the war of the rings story.”

In the meantime, there’s The Hunt for Gollum movie, which is set to hit cinemas in 2026. Directed by Sméagol star Andy Serkis, who will also reprise his role, the film is set during The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring before Frodo leaves the Shire. In JRR Tolkien’s novel, Gandalf sends Aragorn on a quest to find Gollum to obtain more information on the One Ring.

Sir Ian McKellen has already confirmed he is considering reprising Gandalf and Viggo Mortensen has said he would return as Aragorn “if I was right for the character”. And according to Boyens, Strider is being courted for the role that would involve digital de-aging.

Boyens said: “I’ve spoken to Viggo, Andy [Serkis] has spoken to him, Peter [Jackson] has spoken to him, we’ve all spoken to each other and honestly, I cannot imagine anyone else playing Aragorn, but it will be completely and entirely up to Viggo. I know Andy wants to work with him, but also, we don’t see this as like, using AI [technology], this is about a digital make-up, and whether Viggo does it or will entirely depends on how good the script is. And he doesn’t have a script yet. So to be fair to Viggo, let’s see if we write a good enough role and that he can find enough in it to see that it’s a performance he wants to take on. After that, it’ll be between Viggo and Andy of how that is achieved.”