Okay, so this doesn’t count as casting per se since we already knew “Sherlock” star Benedict Cumberbach was going to be in The Hobbit, but we didn’t know what his role would be and since early speculation was that he would be playing Bard the Bowman, a role we learned just a short while ago went to Luke Evans, the question still remained. However, Deadline again has the answer for us.
Cumberbatch will be voicing the dragon Smaug, and according to the Deadline report he’ll actually be doing similar work with the dragon that Andy Serkis will be doing once again with Gollum, which is to have his performance caught via motion capture. Additionally, he’ll be providing the voice of Sauron, or as he’s referred to in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”, the Necromancer.
Here’s a bit on the Necromancer from Wikipedia:
Around the year 1050, a shadow of fear fell on the forest later called Mirkwood. As would later become known, this was the first intimation of Sauron manifesting himself yet again. He established a stronghold called Dol Guldur, “Hill of Sorcery”, in the southern part of the forest. In Mirkwood he was known as the Necromancer (mentioned briefly in “The Hobbit”), but the Elves did not recognize him at first.
As I mentioned in my previous post, production on The Hobbit is already underway in New Zealand with both films shooting at the same time. The first one, referred to as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will hit theaters on December 14, 2012 and second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release on December 13, 2013.
Cumberbatch will next be seen in Steven Spielberg’s War Horse as well as Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
