LG direct is clearing out one its most popular portable speakers. The LG xboom Grab Core waterproof Bluetooth wireless speaker is currently on sale for just $79.99 (normally $140) with free shipping when you apply a $60 off coupon code "Grab60". This speaker still sells for well over $100 at retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart.
The xboom Grab Core is a relatively compact speaker, measuring 8"x3"x3", so it can be easily stowed away in a bag. Enclosed is a dual powered speaker setup consisting of a racetrack woofer and dome tweeter paired with passive radiators for punchy, distortion-free audio "tuned by multi-platinum artist and tech pioneer, will.i.am". The internal battery allows you to run the speaker without being plugged in for up to 19 hours on a single charge. Its IP67 rated resistance means it is dustproof and waterproof up to 3 feet. It also floats, making it the perfect speaker to use by the swimming pool without worrying about the electronics getting drenched.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Humble has launched a new bundle packed full of great games in honor of the ESA Foundation’s Nite to Unite event. All the games are fav favorites, and have a $259 value, but Humble is giving you the chance to get all for just $10.
The games included are:
IGN Entertainment is the exclusive media partner for this year's Nite to Unite fundraiser, which aims to support diversity and inclusion across the games industry.
"IGN Entertainment is thrilled to once again partner with the ESA Foundation for Nite to Unite," said Ziff Davis Gaming & Entertainment president Yael Prough. "This event is a powerful reminder of what we can achieve when the entire gaming community comes together."
"Our partnership extends across our family of brands, including Humble Bundle, which, through its gaming ecommerce platform, has raised more than $272 million for over 34,000 charities worldwide."
Prough continued: "The ESA Foundation's impact on future generations of game makers is vital, and we're honoured to continue standing alongside them in that mission."
Humble is owned by IGN Entertainment, a subsidiary of Ziff Davis.
Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.
Hard as it may be to believe, it's been 20 years since Marvel Comics kicked off the Civil War crossover. That series is easily one of the biggest Marvel storylines ever, featuring such bombshell developments as Spider-Man revealing his secret identity to the world and Iron Man becoming the victorious face of the Superhuman Registration Act. Now, two decades later, Marvel is celebrating that milestone by releasing a new Civil War series and a wave of stunning variant covers showcasing those epic hero vs. hero battles.
Starting in May, Marvel will debut a new five-issue series called Civil War: Unmasked. Written by Christos Gage (Battleworld), drawn by Edgar Salazar (The Last Wolverine), and colored by original Civil War colorist Morry Hollowell, Unmasked is set during the events of the original crossover and explores previously unseen conflicts from the battle over registration.
Check out the slideshow gallery below to see cover art for Civil War: Unmasked #1, along with the many variant covers Marvel will be releasing to celebrate the 20th anniversary:
The Civil War 20th Celebration variant covers will include:
“In 2006, I was a rookie comic book writer when a short delay in the production of the epic Civil War event limited series led to me being offered the one-shot Iron Man/Captain America: Casualties of War," gage said in a statement. "It was my first really high-profile project at Marvel, a big hit, and 20 years later, they still haven't managed to get rid of me! So it's a thrill and an honor to revisit that troubled time with Civil War: Unmasked, in which I have the privilege of joining with brilliant artist Edgar Salazar and trend-setting original Civil War colorist Morry Hollowell to reveal never-before-told stories from that milestone event!”
Civil War: Unmasked #1 will be released on May 6. You can preorder a copy at your local comic shop.
In other comic book news, find out which series was selected as IGN's best comic book of 2025, and see which comics we're most excited for in 2026.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
If you’re a fan of multiplayer games that require you to observe the behavior of other players and figure out who is pretending to be something they’re not, then there’s an upcoming game for you to keep an eye on.
It’s called OCTOPinbs (the logo stylizes it as Octo P!nbs, that second word being “squid” reversed and flipped upside down), an action-focused social deduction game from developers Tri-Ace and Lasengle. It takes place in an alternate world where organisms evolved differently. Creatures that in our reality would be purely aquatic or terrestrial can live side-by-side in the same areas in this world. They’re capable of taking control of human-like husks and using them to walk around and live their lives.
Those lives were once peaceful. Each species was assigned a job, they worked said jobs without complaint, and had no conflict with each other. Then came the “artists,” beings capable of altering their form and blending in with other organisms. They became frustrated by the fact that everyone’s jobs were assigned based on their species and that nobody questioned it. In response, they decided to start setting fires as a form of protest.
That’s the backdrop of the game, where 3–10 players are placed in a multi-story building that’s on fire. At first glance, all players seem to be firefighters there to put out the blaze, but there’s a catch: Some players are actually artists, whose primary goal is to continue setting more fires. The firefighters are octopi, while the artists are secretly squids (hence the game’s name).
Player roles are decided at random when a new game begins, and the general gameplay loop is fairly simple: The artists set things on fire while trying to avoid detection by other players. The firefighters work to put out fires while also keeping their eyes open for any suspicious behavior.
While the general idea is pretty straightforward, artists have some tricks up their sleeves that complicate things a bit. For one, they can take on the appearance of any other player. That means they can make themselves look like a specific firefighter, then intentionally set a fire in front of other firefighters to create distrust and confusion.
Artists also have the ability to stick to walls and become transparent. So after pretending to be someone else, they can run away, stick to a wall, and evade the pursuit coming after them. They can’t stay that way permanently, though. The artists win by either filling the map’s fire gauge to 100% or eliminating all the firefighters. So they need to remain active and find a balance between setting fires, eliminating firefighters, and evading detection.
The firefighters win by either reducing the map’s fire gauge to 0% or eliminating all the artists. At this point, you’re probably wondering how “eliminating” players works. There are no timed rounds or meetings called to discuss what each player has seen; everything happens in real time.
Each player has HP, and you can attack other players with your fire hose or hatchet to reduce theirs. When someone’s HP hits zero, their body will weaken and they’ll be reduced to a slow-moving little octopus or squid covered by a helmet (pictured below). When in this form, they can be picked up and taken to a judgment box, which will eliminate them and also reveal whether they were a firefighter or an artist.
That means it’s possible for firefighters to mistakenly eliminate each other, making it more difficult to keep the fire at bay and making the artists’ job easier. It also means that even if someone has correctly identified an artist, they can fight back to eliminate the other player and keep themselves in the game.
Players who have had their HP reduced but didn’t get eliminated can replenish their health by destroying certain pieces of furniture that are marked on the map. However, if the fire spreads to the point that it consumes that furniture, it will create a flame monster that will impede the work of the firefighters. So you’ll need to be strategic about when you make use of that furniture. You don’t want to break it all too early and have no way to heal later in the game, but you also don’t want to leave it unbroken for too long and let it become a monster.
The furniture isn’t the only thing on the map you’ll need to worry about. As each game goes on, sections of the map will decay. Staircases and parts of the floor can give out, forcing you to find ways to jump between each floor to reach new fires. The number and size of floors can be adjusted depending on the number of players in each game.
That’s one of several customization options available to players. In addition to being able to change the floors, you can customize the look of your individual character, and you can choose how many artists are in each game. The developers recommend that a game with five players have two artists and a game with 10 players have four artists, but you can change the rules to increase or decrease that number, as long as there’s at least one artist.
OCTOPinbs is scheduled to launch in Spring 2026 and will be available on Steam, with the price to be announced at a later date. It will be available in several languages, including English, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, German, and French. If you want to keep up with the latest news and updates, check out the game's official website, Steam page, or follow it on X / Twitter, TikTok, or Discord.
Happy 40th to Super Mario Bros., and in celebration of the big anniversary, the official 256GB microSD Express Card for Switch 2, along with a bunch of Mario games for Switch and Switch 2, have been discounted. Those aren’t the only deals worth checking out today. An awesome Corsair MMO gaming mouse has hit a new low price, score a Disney+ and Hulu for $4.99 a month, and big savings on a 26K mAh, 300W Anker power bank. Check out all the top deals below:
If you’ve been waiting to grab the best microSD Express card for Switch 2, in celebration of Super Mario Bros. 40th anniversary, the official 256GB memory card from Samsung has been discounted. It’s down to $39 from $59.99, a $20.99 savings. While you might think the current 256GB that comes stock on the gaming handheld will suffice, since many games are digital or use key cards, that space fills up fast. This microSD Express card doubles the current storage capacity of the gaming handheld and provides speedy loads, quick downloads, and smooth performance, making it one of the top Switch 2 accessories.
MMO and MOBA players in search of a new mouse should check out this deal on the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless MMO. Normally priced at $129.99, it’s half off at Amazon and Best Buy, dropping to the lowest price ever. Now, this mouse offers some serious customizability, thanks to its 16 programmable buttons. It’s also lightweight, delivers a consistently smooth performance, and comes with a solid 150-hour battery life, as we discovered in our review of the Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless MMO. It’s a top gaming mouse, but it works just as well for everyday use, especially at its current price.
Disney+ just dropped the best deal this year on its Hulu bundle. With this new discount, you can enjoy subscriptions to both Disney+ and Hulu Basic for $4.99 per month for the first 3 months. Given this is the lower-tier membership for both, there will be ads, but it’s still a solid sale considering this plan normally goes for $12.99 per month. The deal is valid for new and eligible returning subscribers, and you can cancel the subscription at any time to avoid paying full price. This offer ends right when the Daredevil: Born Again season 2 premieres.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles– Amazon Exclusive Edition for PS5 is at its lowest price on Amazon. You can score the remaster of this turn-based tactical RPG for just $29.32. With it comes a better UI, new voice acting, improved graphics, and other upgraded features while staying true to the original. In our review of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, it scored a 9/10. Ronny Barrier went on to say, “It’s by far the best way to play this classic on modern hardware.” The Amazon Exclusive Edition also includes a double-sided poster.
The Mario Day Deals are upon us, and that means a bunch of discounts on Switch and Switch 2 games. Some notable titles on sale include Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and Super Mario Odyssey for just $39.99 each. The Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV for Switch 2 is also $20 off. That’s not all, you’ll find a bunch of other Mario titles on sale to celebrate Super Mario Bros. 40th anniversary. Check the best deals out below:
If you’re after unbelievable charging power for topping up the best handheld gaming PCs, gaming laptops, and more, grab the Anker A110A Prime Power Bank. It comes with an impressive 26,250mAh capacity to charge up some seriously power-hungry devices. Charging will be quick, too, thanks to the USB-C port’s 140W max charging speed. When charging two devices, the USB-C can output an impressive 250W combined. And there’s also USB-A available for good measure, bringing the total max output to 300W.
You can score this top-tier power bank brand-new from the Amazon-owned Woot for only $139.99, and Prime members enjoy free shipping. Or if you’re okay with bulk packaging, it’s only $124.99. That’s up to 46% savings.
The Magic: The Gathering Lorwyn Eclipsed Play Booster Box is back down to its lowest price ever on Amazon. For just $119.90, you’ll get 30 Play Booster packs, making each about $3.99, which is a solid deal. Each pack even guarantees a foil. This is a really fun set that features creatures throwing spells; a nice departure from the most recent Universes Beyond Sets featuring Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Avatar, Spider-Man, and Final Fantasy.
The Apple Watch Series 11 is back down to its lowest price on Amazon. The top smartwatch, which dropped last September, is only $299 for the 42mm size and $329 for the 46mm size. That’s $100 in savings. If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, it offers seamless integration. Of course, the reliable build and ample health and fitness tracking are equally brilliant. This latest model also comes with a “Workout Buddy” powered by Apple Intelligence to stay motivated during workouts, a sleep score, hypertension notifications, and a few other improvements over its predecessor.
Danielle is a Tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.
Steelseries direct is offering a couple of excellent deals on one of its top rated gaming headsets. Right now you can pick up a blemished box Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro wireless gaming headset for just $250.99 with free shipping after you apply coupon code "WACKY12". The headset normally retails for $380.
Want a pristine box for gifting purposes? Alternatively, you can pick up a retail SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro bundled with a free QcK Vector mousepad for just $263.99 with free shipping after same coupon code "WACKY12".
The Arctis Nova Pro is one of the highest-end gaming headsets in SteelSeries' repertoire. Only the Nova Elite, which retails for $600, is higher up the ladder. Like any proper top-of-the-line headset, the Nova Pro boasts excellent sound quality, all-day comfort thanks to a suspension style headband and leatherette ear cushions, high-performance retractable boom mic, simultaneous 2.4GHz WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and even active noise cancelation (rare for a gaming headset).
However, the one feature that undoubtedly makes the Nova Pro stand out is the ingenious hot-swappable battery system. The Nova Pro includes two removable, rechargeable batteries so that while one is currently in use in your headset, the other stays topped up in a base station that also doubles as a battery charger. This way, you get wireless freedom with no charge anxiety. Each battery lasts for up to 22 hours of continued use so you don't need to swap out too often.
The base station deserves mention as well. Not only does it charge your battery, it also features a clear and legible OLED display and a handy volume control knob. On the rear are USB inputs for connecting to your PC as well as an optional 3.5mm passthrough should you want to connect your speakers directly to the base station.
The Nova Pro wireless has been my primary gaming headset for years and I absolutely recommend them. I've since upgraded the stock earcups to these aftermarket WC Freeze gel earpads and quite like them as well. Check out our Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro review by Kevin Lee for yet another positive take.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
A major shakeup to how shiny odds are handled in Pokémon Go has quietly made many species' coveted shiny versions harder to find.
That's according to fans who have been keeping a keen eye on the shiny chances for the nearly 1000 Pokémon species now available in Pokémon Go, using reliable crowd-sourced information gathered en masse from bot accounts to see the hidden impact of recent changes by developer Niantic.
Approached by IGN for comment on the changes, a spokesperson for Niantic said it did not discuss exact shiny odds as a matter of standard policy, despite the hunt for shiny Pokémon being a core reason that many players engage with the game.
At the start of the game's new season, Niantic advertised the fact that it would allow players to encounter the shiny versions of evolved Pokémon in the wild for the first time - a move which on the surface seemed like it would mean players would encounter more shiny Pokémon than before. (Previously, just a Pokémon's base species would normally be found in its shiny version within Pokémon Go, unlike in the main series games, with a small number of exceptions.)
Additionally, Niantic said it was permanently boosting the shiny chance of all Pokémon found in eggs and in raids, meaning that players who regularly hatch creatures or raid (and who pay to do so more frequently) would also likely be rewarded with more shiny creatures.
But what Niantic did not mention was that, seemingly, it had balanced these changes against a general flattening of existing shiny odds which had long given a boost to rarer species. Within Pokémon Go, fans are aware that the game's base shiny rate is 1/512, though certain species have had a longstanding "permaboost" to 1/64. This includes uncommon species such as Chansey and Onix, as well as those which debuted via eggs or raids such as Rockruff, Sandile and Mawile.
In the past, the trade-off here has been that some species which are harder to find (or which don't typically spawn in the wild at all outside of certain in-game events) were more likely to be found shiny, as the chance of finding them at all was more remote. This was also the case with evolved Pokémon that could be featured in Mega Raids (the only main exceptions to the game's previous lack of shiny evolved Pokémon in the wild).
Now, according to player-sourced data, almost every Pokémon found in the wild has that same base rate of 1/512, whether it's a common Pidgey, an uncommon Charizard, or a member of the Legendary Lake Trio. The only exceptions look to be leftover errors on Niantic's part, rather than any general rule.
In a vast thread on the changes posted to top Pokémon Go fan reddit The Silph Road by user ch33psh33p, the move away from tying shiny odds to specific species is suggested to really only benefit "junk Pokémon in eggs and raids" that previously would have been set as 1/512. This is because many desirable creatures here (Drampa, Duraludon, Honedge, etc.) were already boosted, meaning that change has mostly acted as a nerf to those rare species' previously boosted odds in the wild.
With shiny odds officially kept opaque, and more than a little uncertainty over how specific species are actually meant to be handled, fans are once again calling for more clarity from Niantic, particularly when it comes to spawns of the ultra rare Lake Trio and Galar Legendary Birds, which appear to have had their shiny rates flattened alongside everything else.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Arnold Schwarzenegger may be pushing 80 these days, but the iconic action movie star could well be entering one of the busiest periods of his Hollywood career. Schwarzenegger has revealed that 20th Century Studios is currently developing Conan 3, Commando 2, and a new Predator movie, with an eye for him to star in all three.
As reported by Variety, Schwarzenegger dropped this bombshell at a panel at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. The actor revealed that he's been in talks with Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg about reprising the role of Dutch from 1987's Predator. Meanwhile, there appears to be new movement at 20th Century Studios with both Commando 2 and the long-in-development Conan 3/King Conan movie.
“They did an additional Predator and the director has been doing a great job of that. Now, he wants me to be in the next Predator. We’ve talked about it,” Schwarzenegger said at the convention. “As a matter of fact, Fox Studios has kind of rediscovered Arnold. They’ve come to me and said, ‘We want you to do Predator, we just got a script for you to do Commando 2.”
Schwarzenegger also revealed that the studio has “just hired a fantastic writer/director who did Tom Cruise’s last four movies to write and direct King Conan.” Presumably, Schwarzenegger is referring to Mission: Impossible veteran Christopher McQuarrie.
All in all, it’s looking like Schwarzenegger could be keeping very busy in the years ahead, as the actor prepares to return to three of his biggest action franchises. Trachtenberg seems to have a deep-seated interest in bringing Schwarzengger back to the Predator fold, as ScreenRant recently reported that 2025’s Predator: Badlands nearly featured a cameo of Dutch in the same scene where Amber Midthunder’s Naru reappears. Now it appears that the two are in talks for a more substantial Dutch appearance in the next Predator movie.
On top of that, fans could be in for sequels to both 1985’s Commando and 1982’s Conan the Barbarian. Conan 3 has been trapped in development hell for decades at this point, with the project being alternately known as King Conan, King Conan: Crown of Iron, or The Legend of Conan. Reportedly, the movie sees Schwarzenegger’s aging barbarian on the throne of Aquilonia, building on the ending of the original film and ignoring the 1984 sequel Conan the Destroyer.
While there’s no guarantee that any of these projects will materialize (we’ve certainly been burned by Conan 3 rumors before), this is definitely an exciting time for Schwarzenegger fans. Let us know which of these three sequels you’re most excited for by voting in our poll and posting in the comments below:
As if this weren't all enough, Schwarzenegger may also be returning to another opular Hollywood franchise. Back in 2021, we learned that he signed on to star in a Twins sequel called Triplets, with Danny DeVito also reprising his role and Tracy Morgan cast as the pair's long-lost other brother. However, there's been little movement on the project since, and the death of director Ivan Reitman likely set the project back.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
If you're hoping to stock up on some new board games for your collection this year, it's worth having a look at Amazon. Right now, and for a limited time, the retailer has an excellent offer going on where you can get a $10 Amazon credit after spending $50 on select board games.
That's certainly a nice bonus on top of picking up some new games. There's some great picks to choose from in Amazon's selection as well, including Pandemic, Azul Summer Pavilion, and quite a few more. Below we've gathered up just a few of our favorites included in this offer, but if you're curious to see everything that's available, check out Amazon's sale page here.
If you're curious how and when this promo credit will pop up in your account, Amazon notes that it will be automatically added to your account 30 days after your chosen board game (or games) have shipped. An email will notify you when it's available, so make sure to keep an eye out for it.
As for some of the games included in this offer, there's quite a few we think very highly of. Both Pandemic and Azul landed on our lists of the best beginner board games, which is good news if you're just starting a collection at home, and the best classic board games. If you're looking for a game that you and your partner can play together, 7 Wonders Duel even earned a spot in our list of the best board games for couples.
If any of these have caught your eye, this is a great opportunity to pick up some new board games to play this year while getting a little extra spending cash for Amazon. You can even put that credit towards more board games, if you want. What's better than that?
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
If you're seeking chart-topping gaming performance, then Alienware's biggest and most powerful prebuilt desktop computer should be high on your list. For just a few more days the Alienware Area-51 AMD Ryzen 9800X3D Edition RTX 5090 gaming PC has dropped in price from $5,650 all the way down to $4,699.99, a savings of $950. Alternatively you can upgrade to the 9950X3D CPU for an additional $250, which comes out to $4,949.99. These are both competitive prices considering the fact that most RTX 5090 prebuilts are currently selling for $5,000 or more.
The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's flagship gaming PC. The product photos don't give it due justice; this is a big chassis that towers over the Aurora R16 model with superior build quality and a redesigned cooling system with even greater airflow. This is the only model that can be configured with the hot and power hungry GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card. The first wave of Area-51 systems featured Intel CPUs exclusively, with AMD X3D options only available since late November.
This $4,450 config is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, 32GB of DDR5-6400MHz RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Additional system details include a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooling system for the CPU and a massive 1,500W 80Plus Platinum power supply that allows plenty of headroom for future upgrades.
...but you can also upgrade to the 9950X3D for a reasonable price
The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is considered to be one of the best gaming processors on the market and outperforms any Intel or AMD non-X3D chip in games thanks to AMD's 3D-V-Cache technology. It only has eight cores, but that makes no difference in gaming since most games can't utilize more than eight cores (if that) anyways. That's why its gaming performance is nearly identical to the pricier 9900X3d and 9950X3D.
Now if you regularly use your PC for non-gaming applications that actually do benefit from as many cores as possible, then you can upgrade to an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16-core processor, which doubles the core count while offering similar gaming performance, for an additional $250. That's actually very reasonable as far as CPU upgrades go; the difference in MSRP between a 9950X3D and 9980X3D is $220, and you're not paying much more than that.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has emerged as the most powerful consumer GPU on the market. Although with this generation Nvidia has prioritized software updates, AI features, and DLSS 4 technology to improve gameplay performance, the 5090 still boasts an impressive 25%-30% uplift over the RTX 4090 in hardware-based raster performance. If you want the absolute best performance for your gaming PC, there is literally no other option from any other brand.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
The Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood has said he doesn’t want anyone else playing Frodo “as long as I’m alive and able,” with his involvement with 2027 movie The Hunt for Gollum all but confirmed.
Speaking to The Times, the 45-year-old actor danced around his as-yet-unconfirmed appearance in next year’s The Hunt for Gollum, but admitted he felt similar to Ian McKellen, who recently said he couldn’t see anyone else playing Gandalf.
“It hasn’t been officially announced, but at a convention last August, Ian sort of let the cat out of the bag,” Wood said, referencing last year’s Lord of the Rings panel at London's For the Love of Fantasy fan convention.
“So there is a good chance. I’m not able to officially say anything until it’s announced, but I will say I’m thrilled with the prospect of another film. It’s always a little nerve-racking when people talk about new movies for a world like Middle-earth. Everyone gets a little protective and hopes it retains its level of integrity, but this story is fun, thrilling. There is a genuine feeling of getting the band back together. “I’m just excited.”
Then, referencing McKellen’s feelings on playing Gandalf again, Wood said: “I certainly wouldn’t want anybody else to play Frodo either as long as I’m alive and able. And I can also recognise what fun that is going to be — when you are in the cinema and you see the hat turn around and it’s Gandalf. Because I’m also a fan, and excited to see how it all comes together.”
This isn’t the first time Wood has spoken about The Hunt for Gollum. In October last year, he said the film, set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, had a great script and production team behind it.
While some have debated the need for a Smeagol spinoff, especially after mixed reactions to The Hobbit movie trilogy, Wood piled praise on plans for The Hunt for Gollum, which will reunite The Lord of the Rings director and scriptwriters Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens with Gollum actor Andy Serkis, who is set to both star in and direct the film.
"I know a great deal about it," Wood said at the time. "I've read it [the script]. It's really good. There are some wonderful people involved. The thing that is so exciting is that it is really getting the creative band back together.
"The brain trust behind Lord of the Rings, Fran, Peter, Philippa, they are heavily involved," he continued. "And then, the same production designers. It is going to be shot in New Zealand. So, it is going to carry with it such continuity with so many people who are a part of Lord of the Rings, and I am really excited about that. It feels like getting that old machine up and running again with all of the right people."
It has now been more than 20 years since audiences first saw both characters sail off from the Grey Havens at the end of Return of the King. With Hunt for Gollum set several years prior to this, it remains to be seen whether some form of digital de-aging will be used. Indeed, Legolas actor Orlando Bloom has previously expressed interest in also returning, though suggested "AI would have to come into play."
To date, only Serkis himself has confirmed he will appear in the film, though Aragorn actor Viggo Mortensen has said he is also open to returning. The Hunt for Gollum is due to begin filming in New Zealand next year, ahead of its release on December 17, 2027.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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