How Elijah Wood Will Appear In 'The Hobbit'

Last night it was reported that Elijah Wood was part of a group of actors shortlisted to return for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. This left a lot of people confused, as The Hobbit takes place before Wood's character Frodo Baggins is even born. But now the official Lord of the Rigns fansite confirms that (as of now) Wood is set to reprise his role as Frodo in The Hobbit, and even explain how this will be possible.

Here is how it will happen according to TORn:

As readers of "The Hobbit" know, the tale of "The Downfall of The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit or There and Back Again," are contained in the fictional "Red Book of Westmarch." In Peter Jackson's LOTR films, the books are shown on screen and written in by Bilbo and Frodo and handed off to Sam Gamgee. (Not explained on film are Sam's progeny later having the book and being Wardens of the Westmarch — hence the book's title.) The fictional book, and either the telling from it or the reading of it, will establish Frodo in the films experiencing Bilbo's story. Viewers to learn the tale of 'The Hobbit' with a familiar Frodo getting the tale as well.

So, unless the script has changed in recent weeks, expect to see Wood reprise the role as Frodo in the opening and closing sequences of the films as some sort of bookend.

Other actors which TORn says might appear in the new films include: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Hugo Weaving as Elrond (the character is a prominently featured in the source material but not confirmed), Orlando Bloom as Legolas ("likely but less certain"), while other ancient Elves like Liv Tyler's Arwen and Marton Csokas' Celeborn could appear. Ian McKellan's Gandalf and Andy Serkis' Gollum are expected, but not confirmed. Sean Astin's Sam and other notable Hobbits from the trilogy likely won't appear as TORn's sources say that "Frodo and the young Bilbo are the primary Hobbit connections between the film series."