Updated: Elijah Wood Officially Reprising Frodo Baggins For THE HOBBITT
Updated: An official press release from the actor's reps has now doubly confirmed Elijah Wood's casting in The Hobbit. They also reveal Wood has signed on to play Ben Gunn in Stewart Harcourts adaptation of Robert Louis Stevensons Treasure Island along side Eddie Izzard, the 2 part/ 4 hour miniseries airing on Sky in the Winter of 2012. Looks like the Christmas after next is going to be Wood's most high-profile in an awfully long time.
Respected LOTR fansite TheOneRing.net have confirmed that Elijah Wood will indeed return to Middle-Earth for The Hobbit and that they've sat on the news for weeks, at least until Deadline caught wind of the cameo and told everyone yesterday. In a potentially spoilerish statement, they also reveal how it is Frodo Baggins shows up in this pre-LOTR timeline despite the character not appearing in the book.SPOILERS AHEAD
This sounds legit to me, so if you want to stay pure for a little longer then don't 'reveal more'. Though, to be honest, you are bound to hear about this news before you see The Hobbit in just under two years time anyway... TheOneRing says director Peter Jackson has plans for Frodo to appear in the opening sequences of The Hobbit. Here's how they put it;As readers of The Hobbit know, the tale of The Downfall of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit or There and Back Again, are contained in the fictional Red Book of Westmarch. In Peter Jacksons LOTR films, the book is shown on screen and written in by Bilbo and Frodo and handed off to Sam Gamgee. (Not explained on film are Sams progeny later having the book and being Wardens of the Westmarch hence the books title.) The fictional book, and either the telling from it or the reading of it, will establish Frodo in the films experiencing Bilbos story. Viewers are to learn the tale of The Hobbit as a familiar Frodo gets the tale as well.So seemingly Frodo's appearance will be similar to the book-ended scenes of The Princess Bride and on the surface seems like a manageable way to shoe-horn in the most familiar character from the original trilogy. The Hobbit already has LOTR vets Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving set to return (all of them have all but signed their deals) and TheOneRing say that Liv Tyler (Arwen) and Marton Csokas (Celeborn) could conceivably also return. I don't know about you, but I'd quite like this guy to show-up somewhere...
Newcomers to the cast are; Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, Rob Kazinsky, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Sylester McCoy, Adam Brown, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage and William Kircher. Expect a press release soon.