J.R.R. Tolkien’s publishers, HarperCollins, have announced that a brand new audiobook of The Lord of the Rings will be released this autumn, and narrated by Andy Serkis.
Following the success of the #Hobbitathon where Andy Serkis – who played Gollum in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings film trilogies – raised over £300,000 for charity, HarperCollins decided to release an audiobook of The Hobbit with Serkis’s narration. Due to that popularity, a brand new and unabridged audiobook of The Lord of the Rings will be released in three parts in September. It will be released digitally on 16th September, and on CD on 14th October.
Commenting on the news, Andy Serkis said:
I would consider myself someone who likes a challenge… Walking back into Middle-earth over twenty years after my first life-changing adventure there, and experiencing it all over again (this time for many weeks alone in a sound booth) has brought in equal measures of pure joy, sheer madness, immense pleasure and a level of psychological and physical fatigue I have never quite experienced the like of before. I actually feel like I have “lived” through Tolkien’s saga, and felt his profound understanding of and connection to nature, love, war, truth, hatred, and altruism. My only hope, now, is that I have done it justice, and that the listening experience conveys the power and beauty of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece.
Chris Smith, Deputy Publishing Director at HarperCollins, says: “HarperCollins is proud to be the official worldwide publisher of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we consider The Lord of the Rings to be one of the defining books of the twentieth century, a book that has captivated generations of readers with its sweeping sense of adventure and the inspiring message that even the smallest can effect the greatest of changes. We are delighted that we once again have an actor of the calibre of Andy Serkis who can bring these qualities to life so brilliantly for a whole new audience.”
