Andy Serkis Revives Gollum to Condemn Putin's Invasion of Ukraine

In a crossover that no one was expecting, Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis revived his iconic Gollum character on The Late Show to criticize Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

While showing off his many different voices — Serkis voiced 132 different characters in the LOTR audiobooks — the actor slipped back into Gollum, an obvious Putin analog. "Gollum was on this side and Sméagol was on this side," Serkis told Colbert. "And he would say things like, 'We wants it. We needs it. We must have Kyiv!' 'No Precious, they're to impose sanctions!' 'Sanctions? Sanctions, my Precious? If they do anything, we're going to give them shit back!'"

Serkis' voicework earned him a round of applause from both the audience and Colbert, a well-known LOTR superfan. As The Late Show host noted, fans can catch Serkis in The Batman, which is now playing in theaters around the world — except for those in Russia.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.