New Lord Of The Rings Audiobook Features Incredible Performance By Andy Serkis

A new unabridged audiobook version of the legendary fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings is coming, and it's read by none other than Andy Serkis.

Having recently worked with HarperCollins on The Hobbit, Serkis--who played Gollum in Peter Jackson's film series--is coming back for The Lord of the Rings. The audiobook is slated for release in September, and it will be released in three parts: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. You can watch a trailer for the book below, which shows Serkis reading several Gollum lines and proving that he absolutely hasn't lost his skill for embodying the character.

"I would consider myself someone who likes a challenge... Walking back into Middle-earth over 20 years after my first life-changing adventure there, and experiencing it all over again (this time for many weeks alone in a sound booth) has brought in equal measures of pure joy, sheer madness, immense pleasure, and a level of psychological and physical fatigue I have never quite experienced the like of before," Serkis said of his work on the book (via TheBookSeller).

He added: "I actually feel like I have lived through Tolkien's saga, and felt his profound understanding of and connection to nature, love, war, truth, hatred and altruism. Each day I genuinely went through ups and downs, often coinciding with the progress of the ring-bearer and his companions."

In 2020, Serkis took part in a marathon read of The Hobbit, sitting down for 12 hours to read the book and raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts. After this, he partnered with HarperCollins for an official audiobook version of The Hobbit.

In other Lord of the Rings news, Daedalic Entertainment just released new images of its The Lord of the Rings: Gollum video game, revealing new character shots of Gandalf, the Mouth of Sauron, and Thranduil.

Additionally, Warner Bros. is fast-tracking a new Lord of the Rings animated movie, while Amazon has responded to reports about the stunts on its Lord of the Rings TV show set.