Who is Seren, Anya Taylor-Joy’s character in The Hunt for Gollum?

Andy Serkis’ upcoming mid-quel The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum just added Anya Taylor-Joy to its cast. The actor, who will also play Alia Atreides in the upcoming Dune: Part Three, joins Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Jamie Dornan as a replacement Aragorn as the elf Seren, described as “a trusted and lethal agent of King Thranduil,” who will once again be played by Lee Pace (last seen in The Hobbit trilogy).

While the announcement of a popular actor joining the cast of The Hunt for Gollum is certainly good news, fans might be left wondering how exactly Seren fits into the story. As a brand-new character created for the movie, there is no trace of Seren in J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings. Still, based on the source material that will be used as the basis for The Hunt for Gollum, it’s possible to deduce at least some details about the role that Taylor-Joy will play in the movie.

The Hunt for Gollum is based, for the most part, on a passage in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in Tolkien’s famous trilogy (which he actually wrote as a single book). During the Council of Elrond, Gandalf and Aragorn tell the people present in the assembly the story of how they learned the truth about the magic ring Frodo is carrying, and how that is nothing less than the One Ring, Sauron’s greatest asset and, maybe, only weakness. The wizard and the man known as Strider explain how they realized that, to find answers, they had to track down Gollum, the wretched creature that Bilbo stole the Ring from in The Hobbit. This proved to be no easy task, and Aragon’s efforts to find and capture Gollum will be the basis of Serkis’ movie (which, it should be noted, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh returned to write for their original trilogy actor).

After a long and arduous search, Aragorn finally gets his hands on Gollum (who, as Tolkien wrote, does not hesitate to bite them). As agreed with Gandalf, Aragorn carries his prisoner to Mirkwood. Fans of Tolkien’s best book and its disappointing movie adaptations will recognize it as the largest and most dangerous forest in Middle-earth, which Bilbo and the dwarves crossed during their quest for Erebor. Besides nasty giant spiders and Sauron himself, Mirkwood is also home to the last kingdom of the Sindar, the elves who during the First Age abandoned the journey to Valinor, the land of the gods, electing to remain in Middle-earth instead, as narrated in The Silmarillion.

Known as the Woodland Realm and governed by King Thranduil, this is a secretive community that treats foreigners with suspicion and even violence, as seen in The Hobbit. Still, select individuals such as Gandalf and Aragorn entertained amicable relations with Thranduil and his people, who remained stalwart enemies of Sauron. Aragorn thus left Gollum with the Sindar, and that’s where Gandalf came to interrogate him, finally managing with great effort and pain to extract enough information from him to reconstruct the story of the Ring. However, Gollum would ultimately escape the vigilance of the elves, tracking down Frodo and the Fellowship as seen in The Lord of the Rings.

To fill a feature film, The Hunt for Gollum will have to expand significantly from what Tolkien wrote about these events. That means that the elves of the Woodland Realm will have a bigger presence, too. Casting a headliner like Taylor-Joy for a minor role doesn’t make much sense, either. One option could be that, in the movie, Aragorn will receive help from the Sindar in his hunt. Seren could be a captain sent by Thranduil to track down Gollum, for example.

While that would be a significant departure from the source material, it would also solve an important issue for the movie. Aragorn’s solitary search for Gollum through perilous, wild lands is evocative as a short paragraph in the book, but it would not really work on screen, no matter how good Jamie Dornan is. Having him accompanied by another character, Seren in this case, would spice things up a bit for viewers.

Another option is that the movie will simply dedicate more time to Gollum’s permanence in Mirkwood and his escape, thus giving the Sindar a larger role. It’s hard to make hypotheses at this stage, especially considering that Legolas actor Orlando Bloom has not yet been confirmed for the film.

No matter what, The Hunt for Gollum will have to tread carefully. The limited source material chosen for the adaptation means that the movie will have to add significantly to the Lord of the Rings mythos, attracting the scrutiny of fans, especially Tolkien purists. At least this time we won’t get a trilogy… right?