WHICH stars from the Lord of the Rings trilogy will be returning for "prequel," The Hobbit?

We're two years away from the first part of The Hobbit, yet we may already be in danger of beating its news into the ground. It may have something to do with the fact that LOTR director/Hobbit producer, Peter Jackson is out there quite heavily promoting The Lovely Bones (opening January 15,) and people are managing to get more bits of Hobbit news out of the man.

In the latest revelation, Jackson drops a few names for LOTR characters that he would be looking to include. (As well as a list of characters who will probably not make the cut.) According to Jackson in an interview with MTV:

"Gandalf, being a 2,000-year-old wizard, is still around and plays a major role in 'The Hobbit,' and we're having Ian McKellen reprise," explained the filmmaker, who is executive-producing the flick and writing the screenplay. "There's a couple of other characters: Elrond, who was played by Hugo Weaving [in the original films], and there's a possibility of Galadriel, who was played by Cate Blanchett."

Let's break this down, then:

Elrond (Hugo Weaving): This one's a no-brainer. The character was prominently featured in the book, serving essentially the same role as he did in LOTR of housing the adventuring party in Rivendell after they passed the first real test in their journey. Besides, Hugo Weaving has already expressed his desire to reprise the role. No drama necessary on this front.

Gandalf (Ian McKellen): Do we even need an explanation on this one?

Galadriel (Cate Blanchett): Here's where it gets interesting. (Somewhat, anyway.) The Elf Queen of Lothlórien, who would later send the Fellowship of the Ring forward in the post-Khazad-dûm portion of their journey with canoes, shiny new weapons, and lembas bread is NOT in the book. Her inclusion would be the first real step towards the "liberties" that the creative team would prospectively take with the film, possibly setting the tone for its level of "purity." Will she have a prominent role? Or will she merely be narrating the events as she did for much of the LOTR trilogy?

Jackson also makes clear that he will be sticking to the idea that The Hobbit takes place 60 years before the LOTR Trilogy. While that may not seem like a huge revelation, some purists of the book may remember that many things were seriously changed regarding the ages of the characters and the timeframe in which some events took place. For example, in The Fellowship of the Ring, 17 years actually passed between the time Gandalf left Bag End after giving Frodo the Ring and when he actually returns. (The film makes it seem like he was merely gone for the day.) Therefore, Jackson may have debunked any chance of LOTR characters who were not yet alive being featured either via fudging of the time-frame or some other narrative method.

Whether or not the actors themselves will be given the privilege of being featured in some capacity, remains to be seen. One would think that when you consider how close this team became during production, that the LOTR cast could get some face-time with cameos as minor characters. For example, the Hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monagahn, and Billy Boyd) could return as their characters' ancestors. Most notably, Jonathan Rhys-Davies could theoretically play Gimili's father, Glóin, who is a primary character in the book along with the rest of the 12 dwarves who accompany Bilbo Baggins on his journey.

Interesting comments....

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