With work heavily underway on bringing The Hobbit to the big screen under the majestic eye of Mr Guillermo del Toro, news and hints about casting have begun to arise.

Del Toro has already admitted that he's close to casting his Bilbo Baggins in the film, and that an announcement on this will be coming in due course. But he confirmed, as part of a radio interview he did with Simon Mayo on Five Live this week, that three actors from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy will be on board for the two planned films of the Hobbit book.

Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving have all agreed and signed up for the new films. TheOneRing.net notes that del Toro remarked the trio will be playing "the roles they originated in the trilogy". That's Gollum, Gandalf and Elrond right there, then.

We've still got a few years to wait to see the films, of course, with shooting on the two movies not due to start until next year. But we can't wait to find out who Bilbo's going to be while we're waiting....

TheOneRing