The majority of the major cast members have been in place for quite sometime (a good thing as production has been underway for several weeks now), but as there’s such a wide variety of interesting characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, there are still a few names to be added to the ever growing roster for the upcoming big screen adaptation; two of which have just been cast, that of Bard and Smaug.
A bitter man by nature, Bard the Bowman (who’s due to be played by Luke Evans; star of the upcoming Immortals, and The Three Musketeers) is a skilled archer who joins the journey in the hopes of eventually exacting his revenge against the dragon Smaug; who killed his father Girion, some years earlier.
Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonment) has just been hired to become the voice of Smaug, and joins a cast which already includes Martin Freeman (The Office), Stephen Fry (Bones), and Richard Armitage (Spooks), as well as Lord of the Rings veterans Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, and Cate Blanchett.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ; the first part of Peter Jackson’s (King Kong) Lord of the Rings’ prequel film (which has been split into two movies); is due to be released on December 14 2012, while part two (The Hobbit: There and Back Again) is due for release on December 13 2013.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Deadline.
