Orlando Bloom would "hate" to see someone else play Legolas in a new Lord of the Rings film.

The 48-year-old actor portrayed the elf in three Lord of the Rings films in the early 2000s and again in the Hobbit films a decade later, and while his former co-star Andy Serkis is returning to J.R.R. Tolkein's fantasy world with The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, he insisted he hasn't been approached to be part of the project.

Asked about the film on Today, he said: "I have not heard a peep, actually. I don't know. I know it's focusing on Gollum, so anything's possible.

"It's such an amazing part. I'm so grateful to have been a part of those movies. But I haven't heard.

"Listen, I'd hate to see anyone else play Legolas, you know what I mean? What are they going to do? Are they going to put somebody else in as Legolas?

"With AI they can do anything these days!"

But he jokingly quipped AI hadn't been part of showing his extreme physical transformation in his latest film The Cut.

He added: "I didn't do that in The Cut, by the way."

Sir Ian McKellen recently teased he could potentially appear in The Hunt for Gollum, which is due for release in December 2027.

He told the audience at the For the Love of Fantasy event in London: "I hear there's going to be another movie set in Middle-earth, and it's going to start filming in May.

"It's going to be directed by Gollum and it's all about Gollum, but I'll tell you two secrets about the casting... There's a character in the movie called Frodo and there's another character called Gandalf."

Sir Peter Jackson, who will produce the film, previously explained that it it made sense to explore Gollum/Sméagol more than the likes of Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson) and Legolas with the upcoming movie.

He told Deadline: "The Gollum/Sméagol character has always fascinated me because Gollum reflects the worst of human nature, whilst his Sméagol side is, arguably, quite sympathetic.

"I think he connects with readers and film audiences alike, because there's a little bit of both of them in all of us."

"We really want to explore his backstory and delve into those parts of his journey we didn't have time to cover in the earlier films."

While Jackson insisted it's "too soon" to make any guesses about which other characters could turn up, he did promise to stay true to 'The Hobbit' and 'Lord of the Rings' author JRR Tolkien's vision.

He added: "It's too soon to know who will cross his path, but suffice to say we will take our lead from Professor Tolkien."

Serkis has been a pioneer in motion capture and voice acting since taking on the role of Gollum, and Jackson insisted there was no doubt he'd be returning for this despite not playing the character for over a decade.

He explained: "Andy was a joy to work with directing Second Unit on 'The Hobbit'.

"He has the energy and imagination and, most importantly, an inherent understanding of the world and of the story that is needed to step back into Middle-earth.

"We have collaborated on eight films together and each time it has been a fantastic experience. There's no one on this Earth better equipped to tackle Gollum's story than Andy."