A beloved actor from ‘The Lord of The Rings’ visits a Utah County bookstore

Reid Moon wasn’t expecting to fly home early from his trip to New York City.

Yet the Provo bookstore owner and rare book aficionado braved a NYC snowstorm to make it back to Utah — to Moon’s Rare Books — to check off a bucket list item.

Gollum was set to visit the store. And for that, Moon needed to prepare its back room for one of his trademark gatherings.

Andy Serkis, the actor who plays the character of Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” series, and his wife Lorraine visited the bookstore on Monday evening, alongside a group from Angel Studios. The Provo-based company is releasing Serkis’ animated adaptation of “Animal Farm” later this year.

Moon’s back room is where he hosts “Show and Tell” events, where he can show off his rare first edition books and movie props. The bookseller has been collecting, trading and searching for years.

Moon told The Salt Lake Tribune he previously met Serkis at Salt Lake City’s FanX Pop Culture and Comic Convention, where the actor signed a copy of “The Lord of The Rings” for him. Moon pulled it out during the show and tell portion and surprised Serkis, saying it was a book signed by Gollum himself.

He also brought out a few first editions of “Animal Farm.”

Serkis and crew spent three hours at the bookstore chatting with Moon about books. Serkis is now headed to New Zealand to direct and act in “The Lord of The Rings: The Hunt for Gollum” which is scheduled to be released in 2027.

Moon said he gifted Serkis and his wife a set of “The Lord of the Rings” books and “The Hobbit” that he had specially bound in Italy. He also inscribed it for them.

Having Serkis visit the store, Moon said, was a testament to the hard work he’s done over the years.

“It’s just years of building up and getting a reputation and then people saying, ‘Okay, we want to give somebody a special experience,’” he said.