Cate Blanchett Returns To Middle Earth For Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’

Cate Blanchett, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy and William Kircher have all joined the ever growing cast of Peter Jackson’s much anticipated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit.’ Jackson, director of all three Lord of the Rings films, will be helming the two movies back-to-back for a 2012 and 2013 release.

Cate Blanchett is reprising her role from the Lord of the Rings trilogy as Galadriel, the Lady of Lothlorien. To date other actors on board include Martin Freeman, Graham McTavish, Aidan Turner, Rob Kazinsky, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Richard Armitage and Ian McKellen. Rumoured to be making their way to middle earth are Andy Serkis returning as Gollum, Leonard Nimoy, Michael Fassbender and Brian Blessed – who’s voice is the epitome of the word ‘bellowing’.

Peter Jackson welcomed the news of Cate Blanchett’s return to Middle-earth “Cate is one of my favorite actors to work with and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have her reprise the role she so beautifully brought to life in the earlier films.” On the casting of Scottish actor Ken Stott, Jackson commented “Fran and I have long been fans of Ken’s work and are excited he will be joining us on this journey.” Jackson also welcomed the addition to the cast of Swedish actor, Mikael Persbrandt, saying, “The role of Beorn is an iconic one and Mikael was our first choice for the part. Since seeing him read for the role we can’t imagine anyone else playing this character.”