Billy Connolly joins the cast of The Hobbit

Connolly To Play Dwarf Warrior Dain Ironfoot

Scottish comedian Billy Connolly has been announced as the final addition to the cast of the forthcoming film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's book, The Hobbit. The two-part film series will be directed by Peter Jackson, the man responsible for The Lord of the Rings movies.

Billy Connolly

After the huge success of Peter Jackson's film versions of The Lord of the Rings, it made perfect sense for him to adapt another of J. R. R. Tolkein's books, The Hobbit, for the big screen. The Lord of the Rings is the more complex sequel to The Hobbit, a book written for children. The Hobbit features some of the same characters as The Lord of the Rings, such as Gandalf and Bilbo Baggins, the latter being The Hobbit's protagonist. Many of the stars of The Lord of the Rings movies will be reprising their roles in The Hobbit, including Hollywood stars Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom.

Billy Connolly will play one of the characters who did not appear in The Lord of the Rings – the great dwarf warrior Dain Ironfoot. Jackson said of the casting choice, "We could not think of a more fitting actor to play Dain Ironfoot, the staunchest and toughest of Dwarves, than Billy Connolly." Peter Jackson also revealed that this was the final casting decision for the movie, so "the cast of The Hobbit is now complete."

Other stars who will be making their first appearance in a Jackson-directed Tolkein adaptation include Martin Freeman, who plays the lead role of Bilbo Baggins, and Benedict Cumberbatch, as Smaug the dragon. The first film in the series, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be released to cinemas on Dec. 14 this year, with the second, The Hobbit: There And Back Again, following on Dec. 13, 2013. Let's hope 13 is not an unlucky number for The Hobbit!

Image courtesy of Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com.