Warner Bros. Discovery’s first new Lord of the Rings movie is due out in 2026

Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it was working on “multiple Lord of the Rings movies’’ with New Line Cinema, the production company that put out Peter Jackson’s original trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. Now, we know when the first of those new movies is probably hitting theaters.

During an earnings call today, WBD CEO David Zaslav announced that the company expects the first new Lord of the Rings movie will debut sometime in 2026 and “explore storylines yet to be told.” Zaslav also shared that Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens have joined the project as producers. Currently, no casting announcements have been made, and WBD hasn’t shared specifics about the film’s plot. But with its projected release date not all that far off, it shouldn’t be long before we start hearing more about the future of Middle-earth.