Anya Taylor-Joy has officially joined The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, a new entry in the franchise directed by Andy Serkis. She is set to play a completely new character named Seren, an original creation for the film rather than someone drawn directly from J.R.R. Tolkien’s published lore. 

The story takes place in the uneasy years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, when Middle-earth is quietly unraveling under the growing shadow of Sauron. Seren is introduced as a Sindar Elf operating out of the Woodland Realm under King Thranduil’s watchful rule. Rather than being a traditional high-born court figure, she is envisioned as a field operative of sorts, someone shaped by the long isolation and slow political decay of the Elven kingdoms, moving through the darker edges of the forest where old alliances are fading and trust is becoming a rare currency.

Seren becomes part of the secretive efforts to track Gollum after his escape, a task that draws multiple factions into motion because what he knows about the One Ring is too dangerous to remain loose in the world. 

Led by Andy Serkis, who returns as Gollum, the film explores a lesser-known period in the timeline where unseen events quietly shape Frodo’s journey.