The Hunt for Gollum is being criticised for its all-white cast. Blaming Tolkien is the wrong answer

The casting for the new film The Hunt for Gollum has drawn criticism due to its all-white cast. Director Andy Serkis recently defended the decision by pointing to the source material, suggesting that J.R.R. Tolkien’s work and its roots in Norse mythology justify the current direction of the film.

Attributing these creative choices to Tolkien overlooks the reality of modern filmmaking. The author wrote in the 1940s, a time when the cultural landscape was significantly different from today. Suggesting that a 20th-century philologist determined the casting for a 2026 production is a weak argument. Filmmakers make hundreds of interpretative decisions in every adaptation, and this is no different.

Furthermore, the film exists within a visual legacy established by Peter Jackson’s previous Middle-earth projects. Those earlier films took massive liberties with the text, from character heights to physical descriptions. If the goal is historical accuracy to the books, the original films would have looked much different. By hiding behind the source material, the production sidesteps the reality that this is a contemporary creative choice.

Every director decides which elements of a story to preserve and which to adapt for modern audiences. Choosing to stick to a specific aesthetic is a valid option, but it should be framed as a choice made by the production team rather than an obligation imposed by a long-dead author. Using Tolkien to explain away casting trends does not address the core of the ongoing conversation about representation in fantasy.