Peter Jackson Reveals Why He Won’t Direct ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’

Peter Jackson says he has no problem with artificial intelligence being used in movies, but he believes the conversation around AI has made it harder for actors like Andy Serkis to get proper recognition for motion-capture performances.

During a masterclass at the Cannes Film Festival, Jackson spoke openly about how AI is changing Hollywood and why he thinks people are looking at motion-capture acting the wrong way. According to reports from the event, the filmmaker said he sees AI as another filmmaking tool rather than something completely different.

“I mean, to me, it’s just a special effect,” Jackson said. “It’s no different from other special effects.”

Even though he joked that AI is “going to destroy the world,” he explained that he does not personally dislike the technology being used in movies. However, he made it clear that actors should always have control over their own image and likeness.

Jackson said problems begin when studios or companies use someone’s face or voice without permission.

“If you’re doing an AI duplicate of somebody, like Indiana Jones or anyone else, as long as you’ve licensed the rights off the person who you’re showing, I don’t see the issue,” he explained. “It’s when people’s likenesses get stolen and usurped.”

The director also spoke about Andy Serkis and his famous performance as Gollum in the The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring trilogy. Jackson believes Serkis never received enough awards attention because many people do not fully understand motion-capture acting.

According to Jackson, today’s fear around AI and digital performances has made the situation even worse.

“A lot of the current environment, everyone’s so worried about AI … I don’t think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope for winning any awards,” he said. “Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it’s not an AI-generated performance, it’s a human-generated performance 100% of the way.”

Jackson also shared new details about the upcoming movie The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which Serkis will direct and star in. He explained that he decided not to direct the film himself because he felt Serkis understood the character better than anyone else.

“The film is about Gollum’s psychological and addiction,” Jackson said. “I thought, ‘Andy knows this guy better than anybody.’ So I actually didn’t think much of me directing the new movie. I thought the most exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis makes it.”

The new film is expected to arrive in theaters in December 2027. Reports have said filming will begin in 2026, with production based in Wellington, New Zealand.

Jackson was honored during the Cannes opening ceremony with an Honorary Palme d’Or. Actor Elijah Wood, who played Frodo in the original trilogy, presented the award and praised Jackson for changing modern filmmaking.

“You showed the world something it had never seen before, and nothing was ever the same,” Wood told him during the ceremony.

Jackson later reflected on how risky the original Lord of the Rings movies once seemed to studios and the media. He remembered showing early footage from the first movie at Cannes in 2001 and said the reaction completely changed how people viewed the project.

The filmmaker is also continuing work on more stories set in Middle-earth. In March, Jackson announced that television host and longtime Tolkien fan Stephen Colbert is helping write another upcoming Lord of the Rings movie currently using the working title “Shadow of the Past.”

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