Peter Jackson opted out of any Comic Con appearances at all this year, stating that he has to continue working on the next two Hobbit films to make sure they get all the attention they deserve. (Considering that Martin Freeman only just finished his filming as Bilbo, it’s probably best to leave Jackson in New Zealand.) But TheOneRing.net, the premiere Lord of the Rings fan site, hosted their own panel and had some interesting tidbits and speculation to share!
According to information given at the panel, Beorn’s house will be the very first stop in The Desolation of Smaug. There was also talk of Bard the Bowman, and how his backstory will likely be fleshed out for the audience.
The upcoming appearance of more elves—namely Legolas, Tauriel and Legolas’ father Thranduil—in the next film continues to excite fans, and glimpses of them in clips got big cheers from the room. It would seem that the rumored crush between Kili (you know, the hot but mysteriously un-bearded drawf) and Tauriel is looking more likely, though the panelists hoped that it would be more in the vein of Gimli’s pining for Galadriel than an actual relationship of any kind.
In awesome news, however, it looks like Galadriel might be taking up the sword in the next film—she might appear in battle scenes!
And on a strange alternate-universe note, it would seem that Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor and Radigast the Brown in the first Hobbit film) was seriously considered for the part of Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings trilogy before Ian Holm ended up with the role. It’s not exactly a shock when you remember that Peter Jackson is something of a Seventh Doctor devotee—he reportedly has McCoy’s costume from the show in his personal collection—but it’s strange now to imagine anyone other than Holm in those films.
More will undoubtedly appear over the weekend over at The One Ring.net, so keep an eye on them!
