Kate Winslet is set to join The Lord of the Rings franchise in The Hunt for Gollum, due in 2027, after reportedly declining an earlier opportunity to take part in Peter Jackson’s original films in 1999. The article presents her casting as a return to Middle-earth 28 years later, though the language of “atonement” is rhetorical rather than suggesting any wrongdoing.

Winslet was said to have passed on the original project because of its lengthy New Zealand production schedule. She will play Marigol, a Stoor matriarch, in the new film, which Andy Serkis will direct and in which he will reprise his role as Gollum; it is scheduled for release on 17 December 2027.