Cate Blanchett has booked her return ticket to Middle Earth.
Director Peter Jackson has announced that Blanchett will appear in "The Hobbit" as Galadriel, a role she first played nearly ten years ago in the "Lord of The Rings' trilogy. While Galadriel played an important role in the first part of the "Rings" trilogy, she didn't actually appear in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit."
Galadriel's inclusion in the film adaptation presumably indicates that she may have a bigger part to play in this version of the story or Jackson simply wants to bring in more female characters to balance the original story's very male centric focus.
Blanchett is perhaps best known for her starring role in "Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" in addition to her appearances in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Charlotte Gray," "The Aviator" and "Babel." More recently she has starred in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Robin Hood."
"Cate [is] one of my favorite actors to work with and I couldn't be more thrilled to have her reprise the role she so beautifully brought to life in the earlier films," said Jackson in a statement.
Several other actors have also joined the cast, including Ken Stott ("Charlie Wilson’s War") as the Dwarf Lord Balin; Sylvester McCoy ("Doctor Who") as the wizard Radagast the Brown; Ryan Gage as Drogo Baggins; Mikael Persbrandt as the shape-shifter Beorn while Jed Brophy and William Kircher will play the dwarves Nori and Bifur, respectively.
They join the previously announced cast led by Martin Freeman ("Sherlock") as Bilbo Baggins, the title character who is reluctantly drawn into a grand adventure. Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, Rob Kazinsky, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow and Peter Hambleton have already been signed to play the company of dwarves led by Balin who hire Baggins to help them reclaim their birthright from a fearsome dragon named Smaug.
Ian McKellen has stated on his website that he will also reprise his role as the wizard, Gandolf. But thus far, a formal announcement about his return has not been made.
"The Hobbit" is scheduled to hit theaters in December 2012.
