Evangeline Lilly and Barry Humphries Cast in THE HOBBIT

I'm taking a break from this fine fathers day to bring you some cool news from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. The director announced via Facebook that Evangeline Lilly (LOST) and Barry Humphries (Dame Edna) have joined the cast of his epic adaptation of the classic J.R.R. TolKien novel. 

Here is the post from Jackson giving you all the details on who Lilly and Humphries will play in the two films.

Yikes! I can finally get back to some postings! We've finished our first block of shooting and moved straight into location scouting. More on that soon... But today, I'm thrilled to announce two new cast members who will be joining us for our second block of shooting.

Evangeline Lilly will be playing a new character—the Woodland Elf, Tauriel. Her name means 'daughter of Mirkwood' and, beyond that, we must leave you guessing! (No, there is no romantic connection to Legolas.) What is not a secret is how talented and compelling an actress Evangeline is; we are thrilled and excited she will be the one to bring our first true Sylvan Elf to life.

I'm also highly excited that Barry Humphries will be portraying the Goblin King, in much the way Andy Serkis created Gollum. Barry is perhaps best known for his business and social connections as the long-time manager of Dame Edna Everage. He has also been an ardent supporter of the rather misunderstood and unfairly maligned Australian politician, Sir Les Patterson. However, in his spare time, Barry is also a fine actor, and we're looking forward to seeing him invest the Goblin King with the delicate sensitivity and emotional depth this character deserves.

Evangeline and Barry, along with Welsh actor Luke Evans as Bard and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, just about rounds out the major casting. I cannot wait to get stuck into these new scenes!

More soon, including a flurry of answers to your questions. Sorry for the delay! 

Cheers,

Peter J

I always thought that Evangeline Lilly looked like an elf so it makes perfect sense to me that she would be cast in the this film series. As for who she is playing, Tauriel the daughter of Mirkwood, Mirkwood is a name used for two distinct fictional forests in Middle Earth. "In the First Age, the highlands of Dorthonion north of Beleriand were known as Mirkwood after falling under Morgoth's control. During the Third Age, the large forest in Rhovanion, east of the Anduin in Middle-earth, was called Mirkwood after falling under the influence of Sauron... Forests play an enormous role throughout the invented history of Tolkien's Middle-earth and are inevitably an important episode on the heroic quests of his characters. The forest device is used as a mysterious transition from one part of the story to another." So perhaps her character will play a role in transitioning one film into the other? Your speculation is as good as mine, after all she is a new character. What do you think?

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