Orlando Bloom's The Hunt For Gollum Tease Left Lord Of The Rings Fans Furious

Another day, another "The Lord of the Rings"-related controversy. In recent weeks, any ire directed towards the beloved world invented by author J.R.R. Tolkien has been instigated by certain purists who apparently hate every second of the Prime Video series "The Rings of Power" ... but, somehow, can't stop themselves from watching it, either. (Sounds a bit unhealthy to me, but I'm neither a doctor nor do I play one on TV.) On any given day, those outraged reactions can run the gamut of fans getting worked up over the mere idea of orc babies to childish attempts at review-bombing on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes to drive down audience scores. This latest one, however, has nothing to do with the divisive streaming series — and the negative responses in its wake are, surprisingly, quite understandable.

With multiple new movies currently in the pipeline, including both the "War of the Rohirrim" animated movie later this year and a Gollum-centric prequel directed by Andy Serkis, you'd think the fanbase would have absolutely nothing to complain about. Well, if only it were so simple. While attending the Toronto International Film Festival to promote his film "The Cut," Bloom was asked by Variety about potentially reprising his role as the elf archer Legolas for Serkis' new film. Bloom most recently suited up for action in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" movies and the timeline would certainly line up for another appearance in this movie, but it was Serkis' reaction (as relayed by Bloom) that caught many fans off-guard. According to the actor:

"I really don't know what [they are planning]. I did speak to Andy [Serkis] and he did say they were thinking about how to do things. I was like, 'How would that even work?' And he was like, 'Well, AI!' and I was like, 'Oh, Okay!' It was a pretty magical time in my life, and it's one of those things where there's not a downside to it."

Yeah, there's a lot to unpack here, so let's get right to it.

Elves may be the most peaceful of beings in Middle-earth, but the conversation surrounding artificial intelligence is anything but. The recent actors and writers' strikes put a brighter spotlight on the use of AI within the creative community, which means any movie attempting to implement that tool (looking at you, "Late Night with the Devil" and "Alien: Romulus") are inevitably going to come under a high level of scrutiny — and rightfully so. That's the messy quagmire that Orlando Bloom inadvertently stepped into with his latest comments about what's currently known as "The Hunt for Gollum." One need only look at the responses online to see how well that went over among most people. But are Serkis' off-the-cuff remarks actually confirmation that AI is coming for Middle-earth? We're not so sure.

For one thing, it's worth noting that Serkis could've just been messing around with an old buddy of his. For another, the two veterans from the Peter Jackson movies know better than most how helpful traditional visual effects work can be as a tool, whether it be creating entire characters like Gollum out of the digital ether or slightly de-aging Bloom with a digital sheen so he could return for "The Hobbit" movies. And perhaps most importantly, there's also a little wiggle room in Bloom's recollection of their conversation. He notes very vaguely that Serkis and his creative team were "thinking about how to do things," which might be referring to Legolas but, in actuality, could be referring to any number of ideas.

If history is any guide, any confirmation of a "The Lord of the Rings" movie using unnecessary AI would not go over well with the fanbase. Hopefully this will prove to be one instance where the backlash was premature and ultimately all for nothing. Stay tuned to /Film for further updates.