Orlando Bloom to Join Cast of “The Hobbit”?

Orlando Bloom to Join Cast of “The Hobbit”?

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

After the recent news that Cate Blanchett would reprise her “Lord of the Rings” role for the upcoming adaptation of “The Hobbit,” Deadline is now reporting that Orlando Bloom may also be back as Legolas, the elf with a flair for archery.

While this may come as welcome news to fans of the franchise, it’s still a bit odd that we’re hearing about his involvement when more important actors—Ian McKellen comes to mind—have yet to definitively join the project. We’re not trying to put Bloom down, but this is “The Hobbit” after all, and the character of Gandalf is a little more significant in that he is actually, you know, in the book.

To be fair, McKellen has repeatedly confirmed that he’s all for returning to his most famous character and there’s been no news to indicate that he’s changed his mind on that. With Peter Jackson once again directing and the project appearing to have finally been rescued from the deepest bowels of development hell, surely it’s only a matter of time before we hear that Gandalf the Grey will once again be portrayed by the only man who can do the job.

Then, of course, there’s the matter of making sure that Andy Serkis returns as Gollum. He’s collaborated with Jackson outside of the “Rings trilogy (“King Kong”), so securing his place in the cast shouldn’t prove too difficult.

Sticklers for continuity may be disappointed that Martin Freeman is taking over as Bilbo Baggins, but let’s face it--Ian Holm is a little too old to play the protagonist of an adventure film. It will ruin the illusion for any dedicated fan who decides to watch the whole saga in sequence one day (and we all know there’ll be more than a few such people) and that early scene in “Fellowship” depicting Bilbo’s discovery of the Ring fails to match up with what we see in “The Hobbit,” but hey, a lot of great films have gotten away with recasting major roles (“The Godfather Part II,” “The Dark Knight.”)

After waiting so long for this project to find some momentum, it’s almost difficult to get excited about it. Once we see a trailer, then we’ll know for sure that it’s real. We just hope that this news about Orlando Bloom doesn’t mean that the filmmakers are trying to shoehorn all the old characters in. No one needs to see an infant Frodo running around the Shire.