Guillermo del Toro said last week that he would be revealing casting details for The Hobbit in a few weeks time, namely who will be playing Bilbo Baggins. However, today del Toro appeared on a radio show in the UK and gave a little more information about The Hobbit. He confirmed that Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis would be back, but we’ve known and assumed that for a while, however he also revealed that Hugo Weaving will be back as Elrond. It looks like the old gang will be getting back together!
From the BBC’s Simon Mayo show (via /Film):
Mayo then asked if Andy Serkis is back, which prompted Guillermo to confirm a nice little trio of casting locks:
“Yes [and] Ian McKellen is back, [and] Hugo Weaving in the roles they originated in the trilogy.”
Guillermo del Toro also spoke about Smaug and explained that only now, after eight months of design work have they “cracked the basic engineering.” He suspects that they will need another six or seven months of application there before Smaug is ready for his close up.
Hopefully we will learn who’ll be playing Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming weeks as Guillermo promised, and possibly more casting news over the coming months. December 2011 seems so far away!
