Peter Jackson is finishing up casting and moving forward with filming the new Hobbit films and over the weekend, he came out with a couple new casting announcements. Dean O’Gorman is stepping in for Rob Kazinski as Fili, and Lee Pace has own the role of Elven king Thranduil.
Here’s what he had to say about his two new additions:
On O’Gorman
“Dean’s a terrific Kiwi actor, who I am thrilled to be working with. He’s recently been in an excellent TV series down here called The Almighty Johnsons, and I should let fans of that show know that our shooting schedule allows Dean to continue with a second series next year. Dean will be joining us next week.”
On Pace:
“I’m also pleased to announce that Lee Pace will be playing the Elven King Thranduil. Casting these Tolkien stories is very difficult, especially the Elven characters, and Lee has always been our first choice for Thranduil. He’s going to be great. We loved his performance in a movie called The Fall a few years ago, and have been hoping to work with him since. When we were first discussing who would be right for Thranduil, Lee came into mind almost immediately.”