Throughout his career, 62-year-old Serkis has been a campaigner for equality. In 2018, he said that being one of the few white actors in Black Panther gave him a new understanding of what it feels like to be the ethnic minority on a film set.
However, the previous Lord of the Rings films, made before colour-blind casting became common, had almost entirely white line-ups, and so far, his film looks like being the same.
Every major cast member announcement to date has been white; Jamie Dornan, Anna Taylor-Joy, Kate Winslet, Leo Woodall, as well as the returning stars including Elijah Wood and Sir Ian McKellan. The question is, why?
Serkis nods his head before answering and it is clear this is a subject he has given a lot of thought: “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there’s a lot of that feeling.
“The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know…”
He tails off and pauses before continuing, with greater certainty: “They’re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don’t want people coming in.
“Yes, there have been criticisms,” he says, acknowledging arguments that are now almost a quarter of a century old.
“This particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But we don’t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it’s only where relevant basically.”
Although several major stars have been cast in The Hunt For Gollum already, further casting announcements are expected in the coming months.