The only part of this that I can't be cynical about is Andy Serkis still getting paid. Good on him, at least there's one human still working in a creative field

The only part of this that I can't be cynical about is Andy Serkis still getting paid. Good on him, at least there's one human still working in a creative field. But I don't think we need more Gollum, that character served his purpose. LOTR (the franchise) seems to be suffering from the same pathologically risk-averse need to keep drawing from the well of the original trilogy as Star Wars. And I'm saying that as someone who actually liked some of the risks the sequel trilogy seemed to want to take with the characters (as much as I hated the execution.) I still would rather have seen something other than yet more chosen bloodline / Palpatine vs Skywalker / Sith vs Jedi stuff. Like Anakin building C3PO it just makes what should be an infinite universe seem small and petty.