Everything to know about ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum': Cast, release date, director
We wants it. We needs it. But we gotta waits for it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (working title), the highly anticipated LOTR spin-off film from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, will hit theaters in December 2027. Yes, you read that right — moviegoers have to wait two-and-a-half years to see their favorite pale-skinned Middle-earth monster from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world up on the big screen again. Read on for everything to know about the new movie, including information on the cast, release date, and director.
More from GoldDerby
'The Conjuring: Last Rites' scares up a trailer, Cannes adds last-minute films; the Who plots 'farewell' tour, and more of today's top stories
With a new pontiff announced, here's what to know about Martin Scorsese's upcoming documentary on Pope Francis
'I've never been on a show that got this kind of recognition': Katherine LaNasa on 'The Pitt's' success and Dana's 'existential crisis'
As of this writing, only Andy Serkis has been announced as starring in the new film. And yes, he's reprising his role as Gollum, a creature who was obsessed with the One Ring (which he called "my precious"). The English actor rose to fame in the early aughts for his motion-caption work on the original Lord of the Rings movies. He won the Best Digital Acting Performance category at the Critics Choice Awards for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and shared in that organization's Best Acting Ensemble prize for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. But what about Gollum's frenemy, Gandalf? In June 2024, Ian McKellen stated he was open to playing his popular wizard again in future projects, and in October 2024, screenwriter-producer Philippa Boyens teased that The Hunt for Gollum film might include Gandalf in some form. Stay tuned.
Mark your calendars for Dec. 17, 2027, as that's the official theatrical release date for The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Warners made the announcement in May 2025, more than two-and-a-half years out from the big day. All of the prior LOTR and The Hobbit live-action films directed by Peter Jackson opened around the same time: The Fellowship of the Ring on Dec. 19, 2001; The Two Towers on Dec. 18, 2002; The Return of the King on Dec. 17, 2003; An Unexpected Journey on Dec. 14, 2012; The Desolation of Smaug on Dec. 13, 2013; and The Battle of the Five Armies on Dec. 17, 2014. Clearly, Middle-earth comes alive in December.Andy Serkis is doing double-duty on the movie, as both the star and the director. It'll be the fifth feature film he's directed after Breathe (2017), Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), and Animal Farm (2025). The producers of The Hunt for Gollum will include Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens — who all worked on the original LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies — plus Zane Weiner. The screenwriters will be Walsh, Boyens, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou.
Serkis has announced that filming will take place sometime in 2026. "We are right at the beginning of the writing process," he said in February 2025. "We will be prepping later this year. Prep takes a good chunk of time, six or seven months, and then we will be shooting next year. So, it backs into that December 2027 release date." It's been reported that Wellington, New Zealand, will serve as the production hub for the two upcoming Lord of the Rings films.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
When Middle-earth Enterprises was acquired by Embracer Group in 2022, a new deal was struck with New Line Cinema to make two new Lord of the Rings movies. The first is The Hunt for Gollum, and the second has not yet been made public. "We've begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films, the first being The Hunt For Gollum, the second one still to be confirmed," Boyens revealed in October 2024.
If you haven't seen a Lord of the Rings movie in a while (or ever), you probably need a refresher on Gollum's backstory. Basically, he used to be a Stoor Hobbit named Smeagol, but when he found the One Ring by a riverbed and put it on, it extended his life and transformed into a monster. He became obsessed with the One Ring and stalked all of its future owners, until he eventually acquired it again at Mount Doom in Mordor and died while falling into a volcano. Throughout the original movies, Gollum is seen talking to himself in his unique style of speech, and often calls the ring "my precious."
Don't be confused, this new film has nothing to do with the 2009 fan-made movie from British filmmaker Chris Bouchard. He created an unauthorized short film called The Hunt for Gollum for about $5,000, based on Tolkien's written works. It's currently free to watch on YouTube and has a whopping 14 million views. The plot: "Prompted by Gandalf, a ranger by the name of Strider sets out to search for the creature Gollum, who knows the location of the Ring."
SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions
Best of GoldDerby
Orson Welles movies: All 13 films as a director ranked worst to best
Gary Cooper movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best
George Clooney movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best
Click here to read the full article.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Everything to Know About ‘The Last of Us' Season 3
The Last of Us, HBO's post-apocalyptic drama based on the PlayStation video game series of the same name, will return for a third season of mushroom monsters and character-driven storytelling. Like Season 2, Season 3 will be based on the game The Last of Us Part II, and tell the story from the perspective of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), the traumatized soldier who (spoiler alert) tortured and killed Joel (Pedro Pascal) in front of his adopted daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) early in Season 2. Abby is a playable character in the game, so the shift in perspective is an established part of the story, and an important element in establishing its themes of empathy and forgiveness. While we wait for news about Season 3, which could take a long while to produce, here's what we know about The Last of Us Season 3 so far, including cast, story, and potential premiere date. More from GoldDerby Jay Duplass on exposing his 'dad bod' and playing a 'soft villain' in 'Dying for Sex': 'Easily one of my biggest acting challenges' 5 slots isn't enough: More limited series deserve a chance to compete with 'Adolescence' Laugh tracks: The state of the 2025 Emmy comedy race The Last of Us was officially renewed for Season 3 in April 2025, shortly before the Season 2 premiere. There was a more than two-year gap between Seasons 1 and 2, and while the gap between Seasons 2 and 3 is likely to be shorter — the delay was partially due to the 2023 writers' and actors' strikes — it's still going to be long. It's rare for productions as large and visual effects-intensive as The Last of Us to take less than 18 months between seasons. Meanwhile, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann and executive producer Halley Gross are still in the process of writing Season 3, and no start-of-filming date has been announced, let alone a premiere date. It's unclear if Season 3 will be the final season, but whether it is or not, the producers hope to get it out into the world in a reasonable amount of time. 'It feels like we've got one or two more seasons,' Mazin told Variety ahead of the Season 2 premiere. 'It's getting harder to make, because every episode gets big. You don't want to wait four years for a 17-episode finish, or whatever it is.' Season 2 picks up about five years after the end of Season 1, when Joel massacred a hospital full of people in order to save Ellie, who is immune from the cordyceps infection that decimated humanity, from being killed so doctors could study her blood in order to find a cure. Ellie and Joel have found a home in the community of Jackson, Wyo., but their relationship has become strained because Joel lied to Ellie about what he did to save her. Ellie would like to forgive him, but doesn't know if she can. One day, during a simultaneous infected attack on Jackson, Abby, who is the daughter of the doctor Joel killed as he was about to operate on Ellie, and her crew of followers reach Jackson and capture Joel, Ellie, and Ellie's friend Dina (Isabela Merced). Abby kills Joel, and Ellie vows to get revenge (or justice, which is how she thinks of it) as Abby and her people leave. Ellie and Dina set out on a mission to find Abby, during the course of which they become a couple, Ellie reveals she's immune, and Dina reveals that she's pregnant. They track Abby to Seattle, where the paramilitary organization she's part of, the WLF, is involved in an ongoing conflict with a group of religious fanatics called the Seraphites. Ellie finds a member of Abby's group, Nora (Tati Gabrielle), and tortures her for Abby's whereabouts. Ellie ends up killing two more of Abby's friends, Owen (Spencer Lord) and Mel (Ariela Barer), the latter of whom was pregnant, before Abby finds her and Jesse (Young Mazino), the father of Dina's baby who has come from Jackson to help them. She kills Jesse, and as she's holding Ellie at gunpoint, we hear a shot ring out but don't see what happens. We then flash back to three days earlier, from Abby's point of view. Season 3 will primarily be told from Abby's point of view as she develops a friendship with Seraphite dissidents Yara and Lev while the WLF, led by ruthless pragmatist Isaac (Jeffrey Wright), prepares to attack the Seraphites' base. Dever, who was a guest star in Season 2, will become the show's lead, while Ramsey will shift to a supporting role for at least some of the season, though how much is still TBD. 'I think that I'm going to be there, but not a whole bunch,' Ramsey told Variety. 'We've had conversations about that. I sort of have a rough idea of what it's going to be, but I can't tell you.' Mazin said that how much already established characters like Ellie, Dina, Jesse, and Tommy (Gabriel Luna) will appear in Season 3 is still being worked out. 'All I can say is we haven't seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever and we haven't seen the last of Bella Ramsey, and we haven't seen the last of Isabela Merced, and we haven't seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story,' he said during a press conference for the Season 2 finale. Bella Ramsey and Kaitlyn Dever will of course return as Ellie and Abby, respectively. Isabela Merced will return as Dina and Gabriel Luna will return as Joel's brother Tommy. Jeffrey Wright will have a larger role as Isaac, who only appeared a few times in Season 2. Spencer Lord and Ariela Barer will also likely return, as Owen and Mel play important parts in Abby's story. But, again, the story for Season 3 is still being worked out, and the cast is officially unconfirmed. Season 3 will also introduce new characters, most importantly the aforementioned Yara and Lev, who have not been cast yet. Yara was played in the game by Victoria Grace, while Lev was played by Ian Alexander. It's possible that Pedro Pascal could return in flashbacks as Joel, but that's perhaps unlikely, as all of his important scenes from The Last of Us Part II were incorporated into Season 2. Like Seasons 1 and 2, Season 3 will air on HBO and be available to stream on HBO Max. Best of GoldDerby Jay Duplass on exposing his 'dad bod' and playing a 'soft villain' in 'Dying for Sex': 'Easily one of my biggest acting challenges' Jon Hamm on 'Your Friends and Neighbors': 'None of us are perfect specimens' 'I'm very happy to be busy': O-T Fagbenle on his trio of Emmy-eligible performances Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Is that about me?' Seth Rogen loves how ‘The Studio' keeps Hollywood guessing
Ever since viewers — especially those working in Hollywood — fell in love with The Studio, the series' creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have gotten accustomed to people at cocktail parties leaning in confidentially and asking, hushed, 'How did you hear that story about me?' 'The people who it's actually based on don't think it's based on them, and the people who it's not based on want to think it's based on them!' Rogen told Gold Derby at Apple TV+'s FYC celebration at the Hollywood Athletic Club, erupting into his signature chuckle. 'It's a funny pattern.' More from GoldDerby 'The Hills of California' star Laura Donnelly on having to revamp her character in 10 days: 'I had a minor panic attack' 'Beatles '64' director David Tedeschi on working with Martin Scorsese to create something 'that has never been seen before' 'Lilo & Stitch' set for massive opening, making 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' settle for 2nd 'When someone thinks it's based on them, it's best to let them,' Goldberg added. 'So many people have been like, 'I know where you got that idea!'' laughed costar and writer-producer Ike Barinholtz. 'Because I don't want to offend anyone. I'm like, 'Yeah, that's a lot of different ideas...' But I'm very touched when people see a little bit of themselves or something they recognize. To me it makes it resonate more with them.' Eric Charbonneau/Apple TV+ via Getty Images It's just one of the increasingly familiar aftereffects rippling toward Rogen, Goldberg, and their cast and creative team ever since The Studio found an appreciative mass audience and became required viewing for anyone working in Hollywood — both for the guessing game of Who inspired that? and the shock of recognition when the seemingly outrageous, high-stress behind-the-scenes scenarios hit a little too close to home. Some of it can be a little PTSD-triggering — or as Goldberg suggested, without the 'post,' because many of them 'are living it right now, every day.' Discovering the show was leaving showbiz insiders more than a little shook has actually been validating for Rogen. "A real fear I had was, 'The people we are truly discussing and analyzing — will it resonate with them? Will they think it's bullshit? Will they think we missed it?' But no! I'm actually friends with a few executives, who after every episode — I get several texts from them, literally, where they were just like, 'I can't believe you went there. How dare you? How dare you go there?'' 'I was on a call not too long ago with a friend of mine who works in casting, and it was right after the casting episode came out,' said Barinholtz, recalling the episode that depicted the constant, culturally sensitive landmines the show's film execs kept nearly stepping on while casting the Kool-Aid movie. 'She was like, 'I feel a little weird talking to you right now,' just because of that. It was too meta.' Barinholtz's beleaguered film executive Sal Saperstein has emerged as something of a cult hero following the uproarious Golden Globes episode in which he's repeatedly, unexpectedly thanked from the awards show stage as a running gag — something that's coming to life as Barinholtz is getting strangers offering shout-outs of 'Thank you, Sal Saperstein!' in his everyday life. Even Questlove quoted the line on social media, to the actor's disbelief. "If and when Adam Scott wins Best Actor for Severance, I hope he thanks Sal Saperstein," he said. "I'm trying to will that to happen, but it has definitely exploded a little bit. And whether it's Instagram commentators or people at a function I'm at, people want to come up and thank Sal Saperstein, and I'm here for it.' During the rollicking panel discussion — moderated by Gold Derby editor-in-chief Debra Birnbaum — Rogen, Goldberg, Barinholtz were joined by costars Catherine O'Hara, Chase Sui Wonders, Dewayne Perkins, and Keyla Monterroso Mejia. Goldberg revealed that the creators have actually received unsolicited 'studio notes' from seemingly helpful executives. Getty Images 'We got a note that the Matt character doesn't understand responsibility enough and tries to be liked too much,' said Goldberg. 'And we were like, 'Yeah — that's his character. That's the point of the show!'' He chalked up the blind spot in their thinking to over-identifying with Rogen's character, Matt Remick. 'I think these executives see themselves in him and think, 'I don't do that, so he can't do that!' ... They're trying to 'solve' the show.' 'Yeah, they're trying to fix it — to fix my guy,' laughed Rogen. 'The show's not funny anymore if you fix my guy.' ''He should be more likable,'' Rogen quoted the execs' criticism. 'So should you!' One executive who showed a sense of humor was Netflix co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. He made a cameo in the Golden Globes episode and, when asked to react from his table as if he had just been thanked on stage, displayed just how well-practiced he is in real life. As for the confrontational scene in the men's room at the urinals, Rogen says the Hollywood titan was just as unfazed. 'He didn't blink at that — actually, he wanted it,' Rogen (maybe) quipped. Currently planning the second season of the show, Rogen and Goldberg told Gold Derby they're 'very much' looking to find ways to employ more distinctive cinematic techniques and technical toolkits, in the way the episode The Oner utilized the long, masterful one-shot takes made legendary in films like The Player and Goodfellas. 'There's all sorts of technical things we want to play with,' said Goldberg. 'We've also actually geared our thinking more towards real-time episodes,' Rogen added, 'because I think those are the ones that people seem to sort of engage with the most, and the more condensed timeline, the more people seem to enjoy it. That's something that we've also talked a lot about.' Apple TV+ But what matters most to the duo is that, underneath all the comedy and beyond all the weary and frustrating professional war stories, their unabashed love of the industry comes shining through. 'The show's written from our perspective, and that is how we approach every episode: as people who genuinely have faith overall that this industry is one that can provide great work and has people in it who are pursuing that,' said Rogen. 'We have amazing lives from this industry, and in general, we've gotten to do what we want. I look back to the things we've made and we're very proud of it. So we write from a place of appreciation and hope for the industry.' 'At times we've been beaten down by it and disappointed in it and aggravated by it, but at the end of the day, then we got to make a show about all that!' he added. 'So it's hard to be too down on it overall.' Goldberg hopes their enthusiasm is contagious. 'If I was in the audience at the end of the last episode,' he said, 'I would get up and chant 'Movies!'' Best of GoldDerby 'The Pitt' star Tracy Ifeachor thinks about Collins and Robby's backstory 'all the time': 'It just didn't work out because it's not the right time' How Eddie Redmayne crafted his 'deeply unflappable' assassin on 'The Day of the Jackal' TV composers roundtable: 'Adolescence,' 'Day of the Jackal,' 'Interview With the Vampire,' 'Your Friends and Neighbors' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Hacks' EPs on the ‘rocket fuel' of Deborah's ‘near-death experience,' Ava's growth, and if Season 5 is the last one
, "Heaven." The reports of Deborah Vance's death are greatly exaggerated. More from GoldDerby Guest acting Emmy odds: See how Kaitlyn Dever, Jeffrey Wright, Martin Scorsese, Bryan Cranston, and other hopefuls stack up TV directors roundtable: 'American Primeval,' 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,' 'Paradise' 'Paradise' directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra on the 'chaos' of crafting 'the world coming to an end' Season 4 of Hacks concluded Thursday with a prematurely published obituary for Deborah (Jean Smart), but a fake death was exactly what she needed to feel alive again. "Heaven" begins with Deborah mourning not only the end of her late-night show but her career for the time being due to the 18-month-long non-compete clause in her network contract. Marty (Christopher McDonald) tells her to enjoy not working for the first time in her life and decompress at his resort in Hawaii. She invites Ava (Hannah Einbinder), but it's clear Deborah has something else up her sleeve. They land in Singapore, where Deborah has booked dates at a casino, because she has figured out a loophole: She is not violating her contract if her material is translated into non-English languages because the translator would be performing, not her. It works, and they are in heaven, but the honeymoon period soon ends for Ava, who becomes concerned about Deborah's constant partying and lack of ambition to work on new material. When she brings this up to Deborah at a boat party, Deborah gets defensive, and in a cruel mirror image of the Season 2 finale, she tells Ava that she's done nothing with her life, and that she's 29 years old "and I'm your only friend. Isn't that weird?" "You're drunk and you're trying to hurt my feelings," Ava says, before they mutually agree for Ava to leave the next day. Ava wakes up to missed calls from Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter), the former of whom informs her that TMZ is reporting Deborah is dead. Ava dashes to Deborah's suite, where she finds her very much alive... and then subsequently annoyed by the obit, which says she killed the Late Night franchise and uses the R word ("retired"). But that's just the fire Deborah needs to get out of her stupor. She starts packing to go home. "That will not be how I'm remembered," she says. "That will not be my legacy. I'm no quitter. We have some rewriting to do." SEE Hacks EP and star Paul W. Downs on Deborah's shocking choice: 'It is the most pivotal episode of the series so far' "We've actually had the idea for the obituary leaking and this misprint since Season 1," Downs tells Gold Derby. "We always were looking for the right place to have that be sort of rocket fuel for the character to sort of be — it's almost like a near-death experience, you know?" The original place for the obit fiasco was not the Season 4 finale, mostly "Heaven" was not the initial finale. The ninth episode, "A Slippery Slope," in which Deborah gives up the show for Ava, was going to be the season ender, with the events of "Heaven" earmarked for the Season 5 premiere. Below, Downs and his co-creators and co-showrunners Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky explain the decision to rejigger the end of Season 4, the inspiration for the premature obit, earning misdirects, whether the just-announced fifth season will be the final one, and if Conan O'Brien — very much not dead in the Hacks-verse — will be in Season 5. Gold Derby: Paul, a couple weeks ago, and you said Episode 9 was originally the finale and the Season 5 premiere was going to end with the premature obit. What were the conversations like about making the change, making this the finale, and ending the season with Deborah reborn and motivated again? Paul W. Downs: I think what we wanted to do was sort of get off the runway. We really wanted to, I think, explore what it was like for her moving through the grief of losing Late Night. We've actually had the idea for the obituary leaking and this misprint since Season 1. We always were looking for the right place to have that be sort of rocket fuel for the character to sort of be — it's almost like a near-death experience, you know? We'd really wake them up. And we were like, "Oh, it's so much more fun to just do that now, so we can hit the ground running in Season 5." We've talked about this a lot in press that we've known sort of these big tentpoles, but where they fall in the series is kind of up to the story of the season. And we have such a great writers' room that helps us break story that it was like, why wait? Why not just do that sooner and let that pay off now? You guys have been working on this for 10 years and had the obit idea so early. What was the inspiration behind that? Jen Statsky: Honestly talking about that since Season 1, it was taken from the story of Alfred Nobel, who had invented dynamite, and then his obituary was mistakenly published and like, "The Merchant of Death Is Dead" was the headline. And it made him realize how his invention had been used to kill so many people and brought so much pain to the world, and it really made him change the course of his life and and and established the Nobel Peace Prize in his will. And we always thought that is such a fascinating story, such a fascinating thing that could only happen to a famous person who has their obits prewritten, ready to go for when they actually do pass. So we always thought it would be so interesting for Deborah to have to encounter and see what would be said about her and her legacy, especially for someone so interested in legacy, so career-focused, so, like, her work and her career is her lifeblood. And so we knew since Season 1 we wanted to do that story, and then this just felt like the perfect place to place it, to lift her up, and reinvigorate her into Season 5. And was it always going to be TMZ? Lucia Aniello: I guess it maybe was? Statsky: I don't know if we were that specific, but then once it came time to write it, it was like, "OK, it'll be TMZ." Downs: It might have been even in the episodes when we pitched the show. Aniello: I think it was. I think it was one of the episode examples. They're usually so on top of deaths, so they got this wrong. Aniello: I know. We're gonna — yeah. [Laughs] Max You guys are always so good with the misdirect. When I'm watching the show on the first run, I always feel the tension between the two possibilities of what could happen, like the ocean scene and Episode 6, the "Is Deborah really going to fire Ava?" moment in Episode 9, and now here with the obit and if she's really dead. How do you guys approach these sleights of hand that they don't feel cheap and instead feel earned? Aniello: I think that we so often operate in gray area in the show in terms of, like, we never want one person to be totally right or one person to be totally wrong. And so because of that, I think that we're able to kind of set up story misdirects in a way that hopefully feel realistic. For example, you've seen Deborah throw Ava under the bus before and so that's not necessarily something that you're shocked by, and then we try to just set up misdirects that aren't so dishonest. I think that they're misdirects that feel like we try to make them as grounded as possible. And I think that that is an attempt to make those misdirects feel real and grounded because sometimes you can see it going either way because there isn't black and white in the show, and there isn't black and white in storytelling or in the world. So we really do try to operate in that place where you could see any of these characters making any choice and understanding it. Downs: It's almost like when I watch TV, especially because we write TV and make TV, it's so easy to be like, "This might happen," you know what I mean? It's so easy to call what's going to happen, and I find it so exhilarating when I'm watching something and I am surprised. So I think it's one of the reasons why we employ sort of the ambiguity. And we try and deliver on surprise turns because it's so fun and so satisfying and it's really hard to do, especially as you get to know characters and you get to understand how their minds work. It's just a fun way to watch TV, so I think we just want to deliver on that experience for the audience. Statsky: You hope you've laid the groundwork, like Deborah's been drinking too much and she is in a very unhealthy place, so you do get a sense that this could be true. Episode 9 — you've seen four seasons' worth of the back-and-forth of these two. Will they show up for each other? Will Deborah show up for Ava really? So you imagine she could be firing her. It's sleight of hand that has to be grounded in something honest and true, or else the audience, I think, does smell that it feels kind of forced, right? Yeah, as Ava was running to her room, I thought of "Bulletproof," when she said to Deborah she will die alone. I was like, "Are you guys actually carrying this out right now?" Downs: Right, and that's very specifically why we have her on the boat say, "I don't want to leave you alone," because we were like, "Oh, these are all little breadcrumbs that would make one think this could have happened." Because there's a world where Deborah and Ava are sitting together and they get a notification and they find out about this obituary, and it could obviously energize Deborah in the way that it does, but it's just so much richer to live vicariously through the characters and to feel what they're feeling. Why Singapore? Downs: We really wanted them to be in a place that was far from home. We knew we needed a place that had other languages, so she could actually do this loophole of having a translator perform. But the other thing we really wanted to do is return to a casino. We found that very poetic that she would be performing at a casino somewhere. And the truth is is that all of those things — to find a casino in a place where English isn't necessarily a primary language — there weren't a ton of places. But then Singapore stuck out for us because it's so beautiful and so lavish, and it felt like the exact kind of playground where Deborah would want to lick her wounds, where she might want to get lost, or she might want to escape the loss of her late-night show. Because it is like, there is caviar, there is Rolex stores, you know? There are the finer things that Deborah would, would probably use to distract herself. SEE Hacks renewed for Season 5 ahead of Season 4 finale I love the two contrasting montages that are both really sad ultimately. You have depressed Deborah in the beginning, just drinking her feelings, grieving, and then the Singapore one with the "Dreams" cover, which starts happy and then gets sad and kind of bleak with how lost Deborah is. What was it like putting those two together? Statsky: I mean, credit to Lucia for directing the episode. Those montages are two of my favorite things we've ever done in the entire series of the show. I don't know if you wanna talk about the song in the first montage. Aniello: Yeah, "Wish You Well" is a song by Emma Louise, and she recorded the whole album with her voice pitched down to sound like a man. And so we thought that was a fitting metaphor for the way that Deborah's had to alter and change the way she goes through the world, to be more adaptable, and more palatable to the to the masses. So that song is is one that we really loved. And then the other sequence — Downs: Can I give you credit for something? I think one of the reasons that that montage works — obviously Jean does so much even without dialogue, and she's so compelling in that montage — but it was really thrilling for me to watch. She did the director's cut, and initially there was dialogue because she was getting voicemails during that. And so she chose this song and put it to music, and it was like so much better than I had imagined. When [Deborah's] walking through that tchotchke souvenir shop in the middle of the night, it reminded me in a way of of some of the stuff that we did in the very first episode in the pilot of the show when you see Deborah alone. And there was just something about the lensing in that and the way it was shot and the music and Jean's performance, and I was like, oh this is a hit. Anyways, sorry, so the second one! Aniello: I think what's nice about that sequence is the storytelling aspect of it. Ava, you see so on board, so willing to do whatever, and then just becomes scared, honestly, for not only how much Deborah is disassociating and drinking, but also how she just doesn't seem to have the the Deborah Vance fight. And that Deborah Vance's fight is the thing we love. It's what everybody loves about Deborah — that fight and that grit and that determination. And when she doesn't have it for her own performing especially, that's what scares Ava the most. You can see her concern and how nervous she is to broach the topic with her. Aniello: She also, I think, understands that she's grieving, but she's trying to get her out of it with saying, "Let's go work on material, let's figure it out, let's move on, let's move forward." And the fact that Deborah isn't wanting to move forward in the way that she almost always does is really disheartening for Ava. In that last scene on the boat, I think it is [Deborah] not wanting to move through that stage of grief and not ready to move on to the next stage of grief, and Ava being so desperate for it. And Deborah then deciding to be critical of Ava, but Ava doesn't react in the way that I think Deborah wants her to. She kind of just takes it, which we do think is some serious character growth for Ava, that she just is like, "I see what you're doing, and I'm not going to debate you. I'll let you work this out however you need to." But I think she says that speech she does with love. And so for us, I think that that was something that we were writing and rewriting and rewriting until we shot it. And it's a it's a beautiful performance from both of them. And then of course it sets up that exciting ending of of Deborah excited yet again about the biggest challenge of her life potentially. Max Deborah reminds me of an athlete. She's always trying to prove herself, doesn't wanna retire, and goes through slumps for whatever reason and gets unmotivated, but they just need that spark again. Aniello: Yup, absolutely. Statsky: And she has that spark now. The show is renewed for Season 5. Is this gonna be the last season? You guys have always said you had a five-season plan. Aniello: We've always said that, yes. We absolutely know how we want to end the series, and it's always been the same as when we originally pitched it. I think we are still working towards this being the last season. That being said, we haven't broken the season and figured it out. We have a very supportive studio and network that have always let us make as many episodes of the show per season as as we feel is appropriate for the story of the season, so that's why we've done not 10 [episodes] every season. Sometimes it feels like eight, sometimes it feels like nine, sometimes it feels like 10. We do have still quite a bit that we want to cover in the season. Right now it's five, but we can't say for sure. Downs: Right now it's five, but right now in this stage of breaking, we have too many episodes in one season. So Part 1 and Part 2? Five seasons and a movie? Statsky: [Laughs] I dunno! Downs: We've been so lucky that, like Lucia said, HBO Max has let us do what is appropriate for the story. The tentpoles have always stayed the same. It's just where they happen has changed. The ending will be the same. We considered her getting late night in Season 3 when we were first mapping out the show and it ended up being Season 4. We also talked about it being half of Season 4 and then it became the whole season. So all of these things, even though we always know where we are ultimately building towards, they do shift during the writers' room process. Statsky: We know the ingredients. It's just a question of where in the recipe will they go. Aniello: Yeah, that's good. I like that analogy. Well, have you booked Conan as a parking attendant? I listened to the podcast, Paul. Statsky: [Laughs] Downs: We haven't yet, but, yes, I was just on his podcast and I did say, "We'd love to have you on." Then he did share his phone number and said, "Let me know." Aniello: Don't be surprised. Downs: We wanna have him. Deborah's rewriting her legacy, so she needs to go on his pod. Downs: Literally, yes. Aniello: Good pitch! All four seasons of Hacks are streaming on Max. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Best of GoldDerby TV directors roundtable: 'American Primeval,' 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,' 'Paradise' 'Paradise' directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra on the 'chaos' of crafting 'the world coming to an end' 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' director Charlotte Brändström on Gandalf's 'big reveal' and which scene required 'the most prep' Click here to read the full article.
