Peter Jackson Talks Returning LOTR Characters for THE HOBBIT

Peter Jackson is making the rounds hyping up THE HOBBIT almost six months before the film even begins production.  This time around, he stepped up to MTV, where he confirmed a couple of LORD OF THE RING characters we might see returning.

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.  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.

Jackson was quick to point out the time difference between THE HOBBIT and the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.  The new film is a prequel that takes place 60 years before the trio of epic stories, so actors like Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and Sean Astin won’t be making a return.  Jackson did confirm McKellen’s, official involvement in the film, and he has no worries about bringing Weaving and Blanchett back into the series.

They are elves, so once again, in the realm of Middle-earth, they’re immortal, they don’t age.  We have a process that would start with showing them the script. We’re not [beginning] any official process until we have the ‘official’ script that they can read.

Production is set to begin sometime early to middle of next year with the first film released in December of 2011.  Part two will hit theaters in December of 2012.