Renowned actor and director Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has revealed that he will be narrating an upcoming audiobook of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion.
During an interview with Collider, Serkis was asked if he had gotten to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video. "Yeah, I absolutely watched it, and it really - once you get through understanding the rules of it, and actually how loyal to the trilogy and the feel of the trilogy music by Howard Shore for the opening sequence, et cetera - I found it incredibly engaging, and I really, really enjoyed watching it," Serkis replied, referencing the composer for Jackson's trilogy. He then added, "And also, because I'd done an audiobook recording of The Lord of the Rings, and read the appendices, and had to read them out loud, I was quite clued up about where it was going to go, which was great, and it was really helpful because I'm going to be - don't tell anybody - reading The Silmarillion, as well. So you heard this first."
Andy Serkis and Tolkien's Literature
Not only did Serkis lend his voice to the audiobook of J.R.R. Tolkien's opus trilogy, he also delivered a narration of The Hobbit which maintains a rating of 4.9 out of 5 on Audible. With his on-screen performance as Sméagol/Gollum 20 years ago and his narration projects, Serkis' name has a growing association with the world of Tolkien adaptations.
The Silmarillion was written by Tolkien, but edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977. The book is a collection of myths and histories from the universe of Eä, an Elvish word for the fictional universe of which the continent of Middle-earth is a part. While some of the events and characters depicted in The Rings of Power are covered in The Silmarillion, the show was based primarily on the appendices that appear at the end of The Lord of the Rings.
Serkis can currently be seen as Kino Loy in the Star Wars series Andor, which is now streaming on Disney+. This is not Serkis' first appearance in the Star Wars universe, however, as he also performed the motion capture that was used to animate Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Season 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power can be streamed on Prime Video.
Source: Collider