Considering the scale of the production, casting in the middle of The Hobbit isn’t that much of a surprise, though one role happens due to a previous actor dropping out. Moviefone is reporting that Lee Pace of Pushing Daisies fame has joined Peter Jackson’s cast for the film to take on the role of the Elven King, Thranduil. Thranduil has some resonance to The Lord of the Rings of course as he’s the father to Legolas, who was played by Orlando Bloom.
“Casting these Tolkien stories is very difficult, especially the Elven characters,” director Peter Jackson announced. “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.”
In addition to Pace, Jackson has cast a Kiwi actor by the name of Dean O’Gorman as the dwarf Fili. That role was previously set to be played by Rob Kazinsky before he dropped out to return home to England for personal reasons.
“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,” Jackson posted. “Dean will be joining us next week.”