[RamWraith]

For all you Lord of the Ring fans...it's back!! The Hobit will begin filming soon.

Ian McKellan to Return as Gandalf

Written by Stephanie Sanchez
Wednesday, 30 April 2008

I guess you're never too old to play a wizard who's hundred of years old...Ian McKellan announced this week that he would be returning to the Gandalf role in the new Guillermo del Toro helmed "Hobbit."

Empire Magazine got the goods,

"Yes, it's true," McKellen told Empire magazine.

"I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role. Obviously, it's not a part that you turn down, I loved playing Gandalf."

Del Toro, whose credits include "Pan's Labyrinth", will move to New Zealand for the next four years to work on both "Hobbit" films with executive producer Jackson, according to New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

The studios have said that filming will begin in 2009, with tentative release dates set of 2010 for the first film and 2011 for the sequel.