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Orlando Bloom has said he would “hate” to see another actor play Legolas in The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum.

The upcoming film was provisionally announced in 2023, with Andy Serkis, who portrayed Gollum in the original Peter Jackson film trilogy, returning to the role and also directing the film.

In May, Deadline reported that the film would be released into cinemas on December 17, 2027, following on in the mid-to-late December release window that proved successful for the Jackson trilogy from 2001 to 2003 and his subsequent Hobbit trilogy from 2012 to 2014.

Further casting has not been confirmed, although Sir Ian McKellen said last year that he would consider returning to the role of Gandalf for the film if he is “still alive” when it is being made.

Now, Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas in the original trilogy as well as The Desolation Of Smaug (2013) and The Battle Of The Five Armies (2014), has had his say on the future of his character.

Appearing on the Today show, he said he had “not heard a peep” about who would be playing Legolas in The Hunt For Gollum, adding: “It’s such an amazing part. I’m so grateful to have been a part of those movies. But I haven’t heard.”

“Listen, I’d hate to see anyone else play Legolas, you know what I mean?” he added. “What are they going to do? Are they going to put somebody else in as Legolas? With AI, they can do anything these days!”

Viggo Mortensen has also weighed in on the possibility of returning to the franchise to reprise his role of Aragorn. “I like playing that character. I learned a lot playing the character. I enjoyed it a lot. I would only do it if I was right for it in terms of, you know, the age I am now and so forth. It would be silly to do it otherwise,” he said.

Meanwhile, the prequel TV series The Rings Of Power will definitely return for a third season, Amazon Prime Video confirmed earlier this year. The second season ran from August to October 2024, with new episodes expected to start shooting imminently.