Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis Confirmed for “The Hobbit”

Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis Confirmed for “The Hobbit”

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

Not too long ago, it seemed like we would never see a proper film adaptation of “The Hobbit.” The production was mired in development hell, and Guillermo Del Toro, once slated to direct the picture, had to drop out when it became clear that progress was not being made.

Maybe that was for the best, though. Del Toro’s moving on to other passion projects—notably trying to get a film of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At The Mountains of Madness” off the ground—and Peter Jackson has decided to step up as director again. He was always going to produce the film, but this is the franchise that made his career, after all, and most fans are probably most comfortable with him helming the latest installment.

Then, of course, there was the question of casting. Ian Holm, too old to reprise his role as Bilbo Baggins, was replaced by Martin Freeman. That bit of re-casting was necessary, but fans were worried that other iconic roles would be portrayed by actors who didn’t appear in the original trilogy.

Luckily, we’ve just got confirmation that those fears are unfounded. Cinematical reports that both Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis will be reprising the roles of Gandalf and Gollum, respectively.

That’s good to hear. Who else could play these characters now?

There have also been reports that people like Orland Bloom and possibly even Elijah Wood will return for cameos, though that’s potentially a little worrying. Their characters did not appear in the original novel and it seems like the filmmakers may be trying too hard to shoe-horn old favorites in.

Still, we feel confident that “The Hobbit” will be everything fans have hoped for. The story itself may not be as epic as “The Lord of the Rings,” but it’s more of Middle Earth, and plenty of people want that.