This latest casting news for The Hobbit has Tolkien fans both jumping for joy and scratching their heads — and those certainly aren’t easy to do at the same time. Here’s how we can break it down:
Jumping For Joy: Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) and Orlando Bloom (Legolas) have signed to appear in the upcoming Hobbit films.
Scratching Their Heads: Neither of those characters appear in The Hobbit book.
Hmmm…. It certainly appears there’s a bit of an issue here, but click “more” to find out possible explanations for what this characters might be doing in the film, along with other casting news!
It’s pretty easy to explain Legolas, actually: in The Hobbit, Bilbo and his gang of dwarves visit the kingdom of Thranduil, Legolas’ father, and he, well, kind of throws them in prison for trespassing. Certainly we could see Legolas chilling around his father’s castle. The elves of Thranduil’s realm also appear in a big battle at the end of the book, and there’s no reason Legolas wouldn’t be involved in that, either, especially seeing the way he kicked ass in The Lord of the Rings battles.
Galadriel is a tougher fit, since neither she nor her realm make any appearance in The Hobbit. However, writer/director Peter Jackson has mentioned that Tolkien’s supplementary material will be utilized to create a “bridge” between The Hobbit films and The Lord of the Rings films, and Galadriel was certainly up to a lot at that time, meeting with Gandalf and other fairly powerful people as a member of the White Council. I’d imagine that’s where we’d likely see Galadriel.
In other casting news, Ken Stott, Jed Brophy, and William Kircher have been cast as the dwarves Balin, Nori, and Bifu, respectively; Mikael Persbrandt as the shape-shifter Beorn, and Ryan Gage will play Drogo Baggins, father of Frodo. Drogo is another character who did not appear in The Hobbit, but the connection there is pretty easy to figure out.
What are your thoughts on these “extra” characters returning — a good sign or a bad one? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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