Cate Blanchett Joins The Hobbit Cast

(HMG Celebrity News)  Middle Earth revisionist history? Australian actress Cate Blanchett is set to reprise her role of elven leader Galadriel, the Lady of Lothlorien, in the Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, despite that character’s absence from the book.  The book contains practically no female characters, and some speculated that Hobbit director Peter Jackson, who also directed the trilogy, wants to add some female power to the two-part Hobbit.   Jackson, who directed all three of the “Lord of the Rings” films is making two movies based on “The Hobbit,” the first of which will be released in December 2012. The second is expected to follow one year later. Jackson also announced several lesser-known actors had joined the cast, with Ken Stott to portray the Dwarf Lord Balin, Sylvester McCoy has been cast as the wizard Radagast the Brown and Sweden’s Mikael Persbrandt will play the shape-shifter Beorn. While Blanchett, who has been nominated five times for an Oscar is the first major star from the LOTR trilogy to be announced, missing from today’s cast list is Sir Ian McKellan, who played the wizard Gandalf in the trilogy. McKellan declared on his website that he would reprise his role in the prequel, but no official announcement has been made.