It’s now official, Ian McKellen will return as Gandalf in the two Hobbit movies being directed by Peter Jackson. As reported previously by ICv2 (see “Serkis to Reprise Role as Gollum”), McKellen has been negotiating with the producers of The Hobbit movies to return as the beneficent wizard Gandalf, a role he brought to life brilliantly in Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

With Elijah Wood (Frodo), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), Serkis (the Gollum), and now McKellen set to reprise their LOTR roles in The Hobbit movies, news about other veterans from the trilogy including Christopher Lee (Saruman), and Ian Holm (as an older Bilbo Baggins) should be coming soon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story that McKellen had re-upped, Jackson has also made an offer to Orlando Bloom to return as the elf archer Legolas, “though it’s too early to tell if a deal will be made.”