Will Saruman appear in Del Toro’s Hobbit?

Posted by Michelle Graham (michelle@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 4, 2008

Saruman and The Hobbit

When Empire was interviewing actor Christopher Lee last week, they probably expected to hear about how he loved working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If they were really lucky, perhaps they hoped to get him to talk about his disgust at being cut out of Return of the King, something he was pretty vocal about before. However, what they got sounds like it could be far more exciting a prospect than that old news!

According to them, Lee still has a great love for the series, and would adore to return to his somewhat twisted character’s shoes in the upcoming Hobbit adaptation, if Guillermo Del Toro and Peter Jackson would have him. Indeed, it seems that he even has an idea of how his character would manage to slip into the storyline.

“I’ve read the books time and again … When it all started, Saruman was the noblest, the finest, the bravest … he was number one. But somewhere, somehow, and it was never actually explained, he turns and it’s probably the Palantír (the wizard’s crystal ball thingy) that makes Saruman realise that if Sauron can do this, why can’t I do it and Saruman wants to become The Lord Of The Rings himself.

Is it just me, or does that sound like it’d be a pretty good side storyline for the second part of The Hobbit? After all, the second movie is due to fill in the time line between the happenings of “The Hobbit”, and the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring, and Saruman is one of the murkiest characters going. As Lee says himself, he was once a pillar of good, even Gandalf looked to him for guidance, yet when we meet him he is twisted and lost to “the dark side”. The stories around Bilbo, Frodo and the other hobbits may form the bulk of the film, but surely space can be saved for a wizard with such a great opportunity for a character arc. If they bring back Gimli and Legolas, but don’t deal with Saruman, I’ll be writing a strongly worded letter. Del Toro and Jackson had better keep THAT in mind.

Sound Off: Hobbit fans, should Saruman make an appearance in one or both of the two films?

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Breton

I guess I wouldn't care if he, or any character, made a return in the second film.. But from what I'm hearing it sounds like they just want to stick every actor into The Hobbit for a short cameo appearance. Honestly, just hold to the Hobbit's plot you guys. Sure, it would be fun to see all our favorite Middle Earthians(?) again, but it doesn't really belong in The Hobbit.

robert

Sauruman is part of the hobbit and sequel so yes he should be back with gandalf(mckellen), bilbo (holm), gollum (serkis), and aragorn/strider (viggo)

But legolas and gimli are just not in the hobbit, maybe they could be in sequel.

Movies will suck if mckellen, lee, viggo are not brought back.

Travers

mortenson is a great actor but is not part of the hobbit. real tolkien fans will hate this movie, and im suprised that a tolkien fan like Cristopher Lee would approve of Striders return in the hobbit movie.

qqname22

Hell yes!

johncothran

Yes, Saruman should be in the Hobbit, I think it would help to understand why he went bad. Also show that he was not always bad. The movie would not be the same without him.

Will Saruman appear in Del Toro’s Hobbit?

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