Anya Taylor-Joy has been cast as Seren, described in production announcements as “a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm” and “a trusted and lethal agent of King Thranduil” in The Hunt for Gollum. In a new interview with Variety at the Apple TV+ premiere of Lucky, she revealed she hasn’t read any of Tolkien’s books. She watched the Peter Jackson films during COVID-19 and is about to start on the source material ahead of production.
Seren has no basis in Tolkien’s writing. The Sindar, as described in The Silmarillion, were Grey Elves who began the Great Journey westward but settled in Beleriand rather than crossing to Valinor. By the Third Age, Thranduil led the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood over a largely Silvan Elf population. Tolkien gave Thranduil a named heir in Legolas and characterized the kingdom as proud and suspicious of outsiders, but no female Sindar operative described as a “lethal agent” appears in any Tolkien text. Fans have drawn an immediate comparison to Tauriel, the Elf warrior captain invented for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, who also answered directly to Thranduil. That character attracted real criticism for adding storylines Tolkien never wrote, and the description of Seren has opened the same conversation.
Taylor-Joy told Variety she grew up with a self-invented rule that you had to choose between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings:
“Nobody told me that. I just came up with that on my own. Luckily, throughout COVID, I then watched all of ‘Lord of the Rings,’ and turns out you can love both, and you should.” She is about to start the books. On the role itself: “If my tombstone can say ‘Lethal Elf,’ I feel like I did a good job on this planet.”
The Hunt for Gollum opens December 17, 2027. Andy Serkis directs and returns as Gollum. The cast also includes Kate Winslet, Leo Woodall, Jamie Dornan as Aragorn (replacing Viggo Mortensen), Elijah Wood, and Ian McKellen as Gandalf.
We covered Ian McKellen’s return to the role of Gandalf on Exploring Tolkien:
