Peter Jackson sat for interviews at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where he received an honorary Palme d’Or, and what he said about The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum raised more questions than it answered.
The first red flag came in how he justified the film’s existence. “We’re legally allowed to adapt anything from The Lord of the Rings books,” Jackson said. “Now, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ has got these big appendices at the end. Fifty or 60 pages of Tolkien’s notes, background on characters and stuff that’s not in the actual novel but is tacked on at the end. Little side stories, embellishments, enlargements — and part of ‘The Hunt for Gollum’ is described in that. Gollum’s childhood and how he became what he was. Him trying to get to the Shire, and the Rangers tracking him down. He ends up being captured and taken to Mordor — it’s all in the appendices.”
