The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is continuing to outperform its competitors at the box office, grossing over $500,000,000 worldwide in less than a month. It’s doing so well that I underestimated how early I would need to buy my ticket when I went to the cinema on New Year’s Day!
I could tell that many of my fellow audience members were seeing the film for the first time because as soon as the end credits began to roll, I heard many cries of, “But…wait!” It was obvious that people wanted more and were now going to be anxiously waiting for the third and final installment, The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until December 2014 to see the series’ conclusion. But with such a huge, talented ensemble cast, hopefully you’ve been introduced to some new faces that you want to see more from during the (almost a year) wait for There and Back Again.
Below is a list of Hobbit actors and the new films and television shows they will appear in this year.
Ian McKellen (Gandalf)
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Ian McKellen will be reprising his role as Magneto in the newest X-men film directed by Bryan Singer. It may be confusing to see his name listed alongside Michael Fassbender, who played a younger Magneto in the most recent X-men film, X-men: First Class, but McKellen explained, “It’s all about going into the past, basically. And so I don’t get to go into the past. I don’t think I’m spoiling it by saying that. But we are there in the beginning when the plot is hatched.”
Release Date: May 23, 2014 (USA)
More release dates here
Martin Freeman (Bilbo)
Sherlock
Martin Freeman returns as John Watson in Series 3 of the popular show Sherlock (he won a BAFTA for his performance in Series 1). It’s no secret that The Hobbit filming schedule had to be worked in with Freeman’s commitments to Sherlock. Luckily for us, he managed to fit both in! Freeman said himself, “Sherlock is beautifully done, if I may say so myself. Even if I wasn’t in it, I would like the show.”
Series Air Date: January 1, 2014 (UK), January 19, 2014 (USA)
Fargo
FX has reportedly ordered a 10-episode limited series based on the Coen brothers film Fargo. Joel and Ethan Coen will be executive producers on the project and Martin Freeman has been cast in the role of Lester Nygaard, an insurance worker who is set on a self-destructive path after he becomes involved with Lorne Malvo, played by Billy Bob Thornton. (Lester Nygaard is inspired by William H. Macy’s character, Jerry Lundegaard, from the original film.)
The series will premiere on FX in 2014.
Benedict Cumberbatch
Sherlock
Benedict Cumberbatch joins fellow Hobbit cast-mate Martin Freeman in the title role in Sherlock. “Sherlock’s journey in the third series is reassimilation,” Cumberbatch explains. “It’s very much from a point of view of learning and adjusting to being brilliant, to having to confront something which points out that he is frail – and that he has weaknesses and a vulnerability.”
Series Air Date: January 1, 2014 (UK), January 19, 2014 (USA)
The Imitation Game
Benedict Cumberbatch plays English mathematician and logician, Alan Turing, who helps crack the Enigma code during World War II. The film is directed by Morten Tyldum and the screenplay by Graham Moore is based on the biography Alan Turing:The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. To get a preview of Cumberbatch’s performance, watch this clip of his reading from one of Alan Turing’s letters.
Release Date: Unknown
Ryan Gage (Alfrid)
The Musketeers
Ryan Gage will play King Louis XIII in The Musketeers, a series by Adrian Hodges that is set on the streets of seventeenth century Paris, where law and order is more an idea than reality. More than King Louis XIII’s personal bodyguards, Athos, Aramis and Porthos stand resolutely for social justice, for honor, for valor, for love – and for the thrill of it.
The series will premiere on BBC One in January 2014.
Richard Armitage (Thorin)
Into The Storm
Richard Armitage will play a school teacher and father in Into The Storm, a film that takes place in the span of a single day, where the town of Silverton, Oklahoma is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes. Producer Todd Garner said of Armitage, “He’s an amazing actor but also a terrific writer even though he wouldn’t say that. He has come up with great moments not only for himself and others but for the movie.”
Release Date: August 8, 2014 (USA)
More release dates here
Graham McTavish (Dwalin)
Outlander
Outlander follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743 Scotland. Graham McTavish plays Dougal MacKenzie, a feared, experienced warrior and the War Chieftain of Clan MacKenzie, who secretly supports the rebel cause against the British.
The series is set to premiere on STARZ in 2014.
Plastic
Graham McTavish plays Steve Dawson in Plastic, a film about a group of university students who perpetrate credit card scams and must pull off a jewel heist in Miami when they accidentally target a gangster.
Release Date: April 24, 2014 (UK)
Lee Pace (Thranduil)
Guardians of the Galaxy
Lee Pace is playing the villain Ronan the Accuser in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Pace told ComicBookMovie.com that Ronan “is a real psychopathic beast. I’m having the best time playing it.”
Release Date: August 1, 2014 (UK & USA)
More release dates here
Manu Bennett (Azog)
Arrow
Manu Bennett, who plays Slade Wilson in Arrow, has become a series regular for Season 2 of the show which will return after its short hiatus. Bennett said he is really excited about tackling new challenges in Season 2 as it sets a “different pace, a different tone.” And since his character in the comic book eventually becomes Green Arrow’s nemesis, Deathstroke, viewers can expect to see some foreshadowing of the antagonism yet to come. “I think I’m again on a winning role,” he said. “I can’t wait to embrace it further.”
Season Two Returns January 15, 2014 (USA)
James Nesbit (Bofur)
Babylon
Filming has begun on a six-part series for Channel 4 that is a comedy-drama focusing on the London police force. James Nesbitt will play Chief Constable Richard Miller in the show that seeks to offer a modern take on the classic cop show by using documentary-style filming techniques.
Series Air Date: Unknown
Luke Evans (Bard)
Dracula Untold
Luke Evans will play the Prince of Darkness himself in this new adaptation of the most famous vampire story. “[Don’t think] of the Dracula that Bram Stoker created,” Evans told ComingSoon.net. “The Dracula that I’m going to be portraying is the origin of Dracula. It’s about the man that became Dracula. Don’t be too quick to think he’s a bad guy. I’m just going to say that.”
Release Date: October 3, 2014 (UK) October 17, 2014 (USA)
More release dates here
Stephen Hunter (Bombur)
Field of Punishment No.1
In 1916, the New Zealand Government secretly shipped 14 of the country’s most outspoken conscientious objectors to the Western Front in an attempt to convert, silence, or quite possibly kill them. Stephen Hunter plays the character of Aussie Bill.
Release Date: Unknown
Has The Hobbit made you keen to see other films and television shows with these actors? What performance are you most looking forward to?
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