Rumour and speculation about who will be cast in Guillermo del Toro’s two Hobbit movies are like fog on the Barrow Downs, dense but insubstantial! A lot has been said, with very little if anything officially confirmed by the Studio.

An adaptation of The Hobbit was always going to place some limitations on who could realistically reprise their role from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Of the original cast, only Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Bilbo (Ian Holm), Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Gollum (Andy Serkis) appear in both novels, although Arwen (Liv Tyler) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) could conceivably make an appearance in any scenes set in Rivendell and Mirkwood respectively.

On the other hand, the second Hobbit movie, which is based on no definitive text by Tolkien and will cover the 60 year period between events in The Hobbit and those in the Rings, gives script writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens free rein to bring back whomever they want.

Back then to what we do unofficially know. In April del Toro told TheOneRing.net that it was the intention with the new movies to retain “key elements” of Jackson’s trilogy, and to that end he’d had “the most charming meeting with Sir Ian, and all bureaucracy pending, he’s on board, as is Andy Serkis.” Although no contracts appear to have been signed, Serkis has already scheduled in The Hobbit for 2010 on his official website.

In an interview with Empire in April Ian McKellen confirmed that he’d spoken with del Toro about reprising the role of Gandalf. Last week Empire caught up with him again at a screening of The Dark Knight and McKellen added a little more: “Well, I haven’t had the contract yet but it’s everyone’s intention that I play Gandalf so yes, I will be returning to the role. Although it’s not until 2010, I’m very much excited about returning.”

On working under del Toro, he neatly trod the line between loyalty to Jackson and praise for del Toro, saying, “Well, if you’re not going to have Peter Jackson, who else can handle the job? To get an international film-maker of his standing who adores the original trilogy, well I don’t think you could possibly find a better replacement.”

As for the look of the film, he observed: “I think the look will be very much as it was, Weta is still involved, it’s still the same workshops, the same designers, I’ll be there, Andy Serkis will be there and Peter Jackson will still be around - not that he’ll interfere too much - so it’ll seem like the old family is getting back together again.”

All of which is great news.

Christopher Lee (Saruman), a venerable 88 years of age, has quite reasonably indicated that he is not keen to return to New Zealand for filming as it’s too far away and for too long (del Toro is moving to New Zealand with his family for four years!). As Saruman plays no part in the narrative of The Hobbit, this is no issue, although it will be for the second movie which will no doubt trace Saruman’s corruption by the Dark Lord, Sauron. Lee has however indicated that he would be interested in doing the voice of the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit movie.

As for Bilbo, the titular Hobbit himself, the role of the young adventurer has presumably passed Ian Holm by. Casting for this plum role will be intense, and of all the rumours so far the most exciting has been that of James McAvoy. This was quickly denied, but it would be hard to find a better choice and we can only hope that if del Toro wasn’t thinking of McAvoy before the rumour, he is now!