Earlier today it was announced that Warner Brothers had gained the worldwide distribution rights to The Hobbit. Not an unexpected development in the least, but in the story released by Deadline, there was this little curveball...
"I've learned that Warner Bros will, in fact, pay the entire cost of the two installments of The Hobbit, a price-tag that is expected to exceed $500 million. Now, the question will be which cast members from The Lord of the Rings come back for encores. I've heard talk of conversations with Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and possibly Elijah Wood. I'd heard Orlando Bloom was also in talks before the holidays. Returning actors will need to be locked in shortly."
We already knew about Serkis(as Gollum), and McKellen(as Gandalf). Those two are integral parts to the story and of course they're coming back. We even knew the rumors about Orlando Bloom showing up as Legolas, but what's this junk about Elijah Wood? Presumbably he'd be returning to the series as Frodo, but that would make absolutely no sense at all given The Hobbit's timeline which takes place considerably before The Fellowship of the Ring.
Maybe it was just a simple mistake. Let's hope so. I'm willing to overlook some creative license with the adaptation because The Hobbit has a fairly limited story that needs to be expanded. But adding a character like Frodo into the mix would be going overboard.
