In Reply To

You see, you'd think that would be the bulk of the movie - and it may well be! - but then:

The Hunt for Gollum very much evolved out of the "bridge film" concept, which explicitly included the Hunt for Gollum as a plotline (see also this comment by Philippa Boyens).

Focusing more on the period between the trilogies fits with a more Gollum-centric vision for this film, which on balance seems to be the direction they're taking, at least consciously.

Focusing on this period is also more familiar territory in the sense that it's easier for the filmmakers to ressurect Dale (still ruled by Bard at the time that Gollum gets there) and the Woodland Realm, from just a decade age.

Any number of interviews from the creatives point in that director. Most notably, this interview of Andy's - from pretty far down the line in terms of the development of the script - where he CORRECTS the reporter who suggests the film is "set sometime in the Fellowship [era]" and instead says it sits "between losing the Ring to Bilbo Baggins and The Fellowship of the Ring."

This can also sit nicely with the "Young Strider" thing.

In Reply To

Sure, that's one of basically two options for the second film which seem the likeliest. But I just wonder if they will also have the "Mature" Aragorn (as opposed to "Old Elessar") of Mortensen's for scenes set at the time of Fellowship of the Ring.