A better idea imo would be you play a lowly Orc in the same locale and you could climb ranks like the nemesis system. Gollum could still be there if they wanted to tell his story.

Eh, I get it. As popular as the brand is, I can understand studios being hesitant to take the main cast on a new adventure, since it's not very believable with what they already do.

There can be an appeal to a "just a nobody" story in the same universe, but then the only thing you can rely on is the setting and brand recognition.

A side character turned main character let's you "expand the universe" with a known character, and nest something with the existing story, without feeling like beating a dead horse in a fan-fic-esque revisit of the main cast.

I was curious with Gollum, how they'd make an interesting game with an engaging story about a generally unlikeable side character.

Turns out they didn't. But it probably would've been very impressive if they had!

I don't understand this argument. I can think of a dozen ways of making an interesting Gollum game. It's a fascinating and daresay iconic character. I was a little bit hyped for the game actually, too bad it's... Well, this.