Martin Freeman to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit?

British actor Martin Freeman (The Office, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) has been at the front of people’s minds for the past few years whenever the subject of ‘Who will play Bilbo Baggins?’ comes up. He looks the part, and he is a good actor.

Yesterday The Sun, a British newspaper responsible for those Eddie Murphy as The Riddler in Batman 3 rumors, reported that Freeman had to decline an offer to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit movies due to a scheduling conflict with the second season of the BBC series Sherlock, in which he plays Dr. Watson. The fact that MGM haven’t sorted themselves out yet lead people to question how likely it was that an offer had been made, but it may have some truth to it.

From Entertainment Weekly

That’s all true, but according to sources close to the Hobbit production, it’s not over yet. New Line and MGM, the studios backing the Hobbit films, have since come back to Freeman with a proposed schedule that would allow him to shoot both projects. All parties are currently negotiating a deal.

I would be fully behind Martin Freeman playing Bilbo Baggins and I hope they can work out a deal. He isn’t that well known, but that is part of the appeal. They don’t need an A-List actor involved because Middle Earth, as seen with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, sells itself.

Would you be happy with Freeman, or would you prefer another actor in the role?