Those Pesky Hobbit Casting Rumors Answered!

Saoirse Ronan

Take in a sigh of relief because those annoying and all too frequent Saoirse Ronan rumors have officially been laid to rest. The Irish actress admitted today that "It's probably not going to work out with ‘The Hobbit’ unfortunately... I would have been working for about a year on it and there were other projects that I was very interested in, but Pete and Fran have been very good about it and very understanding.” As far as visiting the set she stated, "I'll have to just go back down to New Zealand for a holiday and hang out with the hobbits."

Lee Pace

Dean O'Gorman

Other casting news broke last week after The Hobbit suddenly lost Robert Kazinsky who had been cast as Fili the Dwarf. Fans had been eager to hear who would replace him and the announcement came April 30th that Kiwi actor Dean O’Gorman would fill the gap, and play Fili, along with the unexpected news that Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) has been cast as the Elven-King Thranduil, ending all David Tennant rumors. Meanwhile Hugo Weaving fans got a treat when Peter Jackson posted a picture of them both on the set of The Hobbit, and within a short time it was announced that he will be reclaiming his roll as Elrond for the film.