A number of familiar faces from the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy have returned for the prequel The Hobbit, most notably the director Peter Jackson, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, and even Elijah Wood, to join the estimable Martin Freeman, who joins on as the young Bilbo Baggins. Completing the “getting the band back together” feeling nicely is the recent announcement, surely a great relief to LOTR fans everywhere, that Sir Ian McKellen will in fact be able to reprise his role as Gandalf.
With the long-rumored and -delayed two-part Hobbit now essentially a fait accompli, are you excited, thrilled, on the edge of your chairs? Filled with a sense of impending doom? Or some other feeling…my dictionary calls it “ambivalence”? I think that’s the word, I have no idea what it means.
Danny Bowes is a playwright, filmmaker and blogger. He is also a contributor to nytheatre.com and Premiere.com.