Andy Serkis Defends All-White ‘Hunt for Gollum’ Cast, Rejects ‘Ticking Boxes’

Andy Serkis has an explanation for why The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum has only cast white actors so far—and it comes down to keeping Middle-earth close to J.R.R. Tolkien’s original vision.

The upcoming movie stars Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy, Kate Winslet, Lee Pace, Leo Woodall, Elijah Wood, and Ian McKellen, with Serkis returning as Gollum. When the BBC pressed him about the all-white lineup, Serkis pointed to the Norse mythology behind Tolkien’s world. “Tolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology,” he said. “The Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know… 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.”

Serkis didn’t ignore the franchise’s long-running diversity debate. He said the new film will “somewhat” acknowledge criticism of Middle-earth’s overwhelming whiteness, but made clear that inclusion won’t drive every casting decision. “I don’t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the-sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film,” he said. “So, it’s where relevant basically.”

The comments go straight into one of the most heated arguments surrounding The Lord of the Rings. Critics have long examined how Tolkien coded race across Middle-earth, particularly in the heroic Western kingdoms and in enemy forces from the South and East. His description of Orcs as “degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types” has also fueled debate.

At the same time, Tolkien fiercely rejected Nazi racial ideology, while his books repeatedly show Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and Men overcoming prejudice to fight a shared enemy.

Amazon’s The Rings of Power dragged that conversation into the open by casting actors of color as Elves, Dwarves and other residents of Middle-earth. Racist backlash became so severe that the cast condemned the “relentless racism, threats, harassment, and abuse” aimed at their castmates.

“Our world has never been all white; fantasy has never been all white; Middle-earth is not all white,” they said.