'The Hobbit' Part 3 Casting News: Sean Astin to Reprise Role as Samwise Gamgee?
Sean Astin had previously expressed interest in reprising his role as Samwise Gamgee in The Hobbit: There and Back Again, but it now seems like the actor will not be making a cameo in the final film of The Hobbit trilogy.
Astin portrayed Samwise in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In a recent interview with Nuke the Fridge, he confirmed that he had not been considered for a part or cameo in the upcoming film in The Hobbit franchise.
"Peter Jackson has not contacted me. So, the answer is, no, but I would love to return to Middle-earth," he said.
The actor also revealed that he had told the director that he would like to return if The Hobbit was adapted to film, while he was filming for The Lord of the Rings. He also suggested his interest in playing the part of Hamfest Gamgee, Samwise's father.
After the success of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, fans eagerly await the last in the trilogy which will release later this year.
Giving away a few spoilers, Jackson had previously told Yahoo! that there could be a massive clash -- as in J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel -- between the elves, men, dwarves, and goblins, when they arrive at the Lonely Mountain.
In a recent interview with Hypable, Jackson also spoke about his decision to break the story into three parts, making it a trilogy, suggesting he wanted to give it a similar structure as he gave The Lord of the Rings.
"You want the narrative to be told either through the dialogue or the actions, so that's really why we ended up with the depth and exploring the character depth that we had done on The Lord of the Rings," he said.
The director went on to speak about needing three parts to engage the complexity of the story.
"I was also acutely aware that there was going to be, ultimately, when this cycle of releasing a movie each year is done, you're going to end up with six films. The Unexpected Journey being the beginning and the Return of the King being the end. I did want to have a unity. I didn't want to make The Hobbit feel any more simple. We wanted it to feel like it was the same," he said.
The Hobbit: There and Back Again will hit theaters on Dec. 18.
Watch the trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug below.
