Okay Tolkien fans who just can't wait for 2014, here's new image from The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
Entertainment Weekly has released the first look at Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and Luke Evans (Bard the Bowman) in the finale to The Hobbit (out July 18th, 2014). I know that you know that the first movie in a trilogy The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey arrives in theaters next week and that it begins another lengthy adventure in Middle Earth.
However, there are characters waiting to be introduced in the next movie, The Desolation of Smaug, due to hit theaters on December 13th, 2013. One of them is Bard The Bowman (on the left) who will be a key player in the next two Hobbit films.
On the other side, it's still unclear how large Legolas' role will be in the films, though it has been described as being ‘more than a cameo'. He was a major character in the Rings trilogy, but one not mentioned in the Hobbit book.
Peter Jackson explained the reason why he will appear in the movie:
He's Thranduil's son, and Thranduil is one of the characters in The Hobbit, and because elves are immortal it makes sense Legolas would be part of the sequence in the Woodland Realm.
Jackson's go-to screenwriter, Phillipa Boyens also talked a bit about the Bard's character:
Bard is an interesting character, but [in the book] he's kind of a random character who comes in after the fact. We take more time introducing him. We know from what follows that he was a father, so we (explore) that. I don't think we take liberties because it's all there in the storytelling.
In addition to the first look from There and Back Again, check out the new image from An Unexpected Journey that features Gandalf squaring off against the Goblin King, courtesy of EW as well.
