Kate Winslet’s New Lord Of The Rings Character Officially Makes Up For A Rings Of Power Mistake

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Kate Winslet will be joining the cast of the new film, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Her role appears to be designed to address a plot point that fans questioned in The Rings of Power. The acclaimed actress, known for her work in films like Avatar: The Way of Water and Titanic, will act alongside familiar faces including Andy Serkis as Gollum, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Elijah Wood as Frodo, and Lee Pace as Thranduil. Winslet’s character is named Marigol, and many believe she will play Sméagol’s grandmother, though this hasn’t been officially stated.

I was so excited when I first heard the rumor last month that Kate Winslet might be playing Sméagol’s mother in The Hunt for Gollum, and now it seems like it’s actually happening! Her character’s name, “Marigol,” just fits with Sméagol and Déagol – you know, the poor cousin Gollum killed for the Ring. It’s a really clever connection, and it makes me think we’re going to see a lot more of Gollum’s life before he was corrupted by the Ring. It seems like this movie is really going to focus on the Stoors and their story, which I think is fantastic!

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf explains to Frodo that Gollum was once a Stoor Hobbit. Stoors are one of the three ancestral groups of Hobbits, and the upcoming film Hunt for Gollum promises to show us what life was like for them in Middle-earth. This is especially interesting because Prime Video’s The Rings of Power recently featured its own interpretation of the Stoors.

How The Stoor Hobbits Relate To The Hunt For Gollum & The Rings Of Power

Both The Rings of Power and The Hunt for Gollum take place at different times in Middle-earth’s history. The Stoors, a type of Hobbit, existed only during the time of The Rings of Power. By the time of The Hunt for Gollum, when Gandalf sends Aragorn to find Gollum, the Stoors had already mixed with other Hobbit groups, like the Harfoots and Fallohides, eventually becoming the Hobbits we know. But Kate Winslet’s role suggests the show will depict the story Gollum tells Gandalf about growing up as a Stoor.

It’s easy to see why Hunt for Gollum explores this part of the story. Knowing how and where Sméagol found Bilbo’s ring was crucial for Gandalf to realize it was actually Sauron’s powerful weapon. The book Fellowship of the Ring includes a detailed account of Gollum’s history and the Ring’s effect on him, but Peter Jackson’s movie left that out. So, Hunt for Gollum logically steps in to provide those missing details.

Unlike The Hunt for Gollum, the show Rings of Power unnecessarily introduced the Stoors, a group of hobbits who weren’t part of Tolkien’s stories during that time period (thousands of years before The Fellowship of the Ring). This decision proved unpopular with fans, especially the suggestion that they lived in Rhûn and were connected to Gandalf’s origins. These kinds of changes to established lore are what have drawn criticism to Rings of Power.

Canon Changes Are Inevitable While Telling The Stoors’ LOTR Story (But It Can Be Done Right)

Any movie or show based on The Lord of the Rings that focuses on the Stoors will need to invent some details. The Stoors were early Hobbits only mentioned briefly in the books, so a screen adaptation requires imagination. Rings of Power included them because they could have existed during that time period, but their addition felt unnecessary and seemed more like a way to please fans than a natural part of the story. It wasn’t a good use of creative freedom.

With The Hunt for Gollum, things were tricky. See, in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf recounts Gollum’s story, but it’s his version – a mix of what Gollum told him and Gandalf’s own research into the Stoors and their history. We never actually experienced the story through Gollum’s eyes. And when you’re adapting something for the screen, you have to show the story, not just have characters tell it. So, simply having Ian McKellen as Gandalf repeat his lines from The Fellowship of the Ring wouldn’t have worked at all. We needed to see things differently.

The opening scene of Sméagol killing Déagol in Peter Jackson’s Return of the King perfectly sets the stage for exploring Gollum’s history. We can expect to see more of his family, including the character Marigol played by Kate Winslet, in the upcoming film, The Hunt for Gollum. This new Lord of the Rings movie will need to expand on the backstory, but it won’t be simply to introduce the Stoors. Once we’re introduced to these more accurate depictions of the Hobbits’ ancestors, the attempt at portraying them in Rings of Power will likely seem unnecessary.

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2026-04-16 05:39