J.R.R. Tolkien created thousands of characters for his legendarium and its centerpiece, The Lord Of The Rings. His sprawling mythology spans millennia, but doesn’t end with names. There are languages, lineages, and realms crafted with a level of detail and specificity that gives a sense that Middle-earth existed eons ago. There are so many stones to turn over and legends to forge, which is why, for the long-expected return to Peter Jackson’s Tolkienian world, writer-director-star Andy Serkis has enlisted Anya Taylor-Joy to play a new character, an elf who can use a bow.
After Warner Bros. announced her initiation into The Hunt For Gollum on X, the Everything App, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Taylor-Joy won’t be playing a heretofore known elf, like Arwen or Galadriel. Rather, she’ll play Seren, one of the Gray Elves from the Woodland Realm. Some may be familiar with the Woodland Realm, the homeland of Leoglas, who hails from Mirkwood. Seren, per THR, is one of King Thranduil’s (Lee Pace, who’s returning for a sequel to him and a prequel to others) trusted and lethal agents.
Taylor-Joy isn’t the first character created for the film. Leo Woodhall is also playing a new character, Halvard, who is believed to be one of Aragorn’s Rangers of the North. Thankfully, there’s already a wiki entry on that one, which notes that the character may be of Dúnedain descent but his name is not fully Sindarin, one of the languages commonly spoken by the Men of the West. “Hal” is Sindarin for “to lift.” However, “vard” doesn’t exist in Sindarin. The Quenya word “vard” means to rule or govern, but “vard,” the wiki notes, also tends to be a prefix, not a suffix. Meanwhile, Kate Winslet will play Marigol, who we’re reasonably sure is Smeagol’s previously unnamed grandmother. What does all this mean? Probably nothing, but when the logline is as thin as “heroes from other movies fail to catch Gollum (Serkis),” we must make do with what’s available. But who knows, maybe there’s some really great surprises hidden in the tale Tolkien wrapped in fewer than 10 pages.
Who are Halvard and Seren? It’s a secret now that only fire can tell on December 17, 2027.
