Stephen Fry And That Guy From Sherlock Join The Hobbit

It looks like The Hobbit is in danger of replacing the Harry Potter movies as the franchise that every British actor is legally obligated to be in.  Two more Brits have signed onto the project, with the most notable being Blackadder actor and TV quizmaster Stephen Fry.

Fry’s been cast as the Master of Lake-Town, the head of the town of Esgaroth upon Long Lake. If you haven’t read the Hobbit in ages, that’s the town that Bilbo and the dwarves end up at after their barrel escape from the Elves. It’s later attacked by Smaug the Dragon. If you don’t recognize Fry, you should as he has some pretty impressive nerd credentials such as acting in V for Vendetta and voicing The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy in the almost unwatchable movie of the same name.

Another Hobbit addition is Benedict Cumberbatch (and yes, we’ve double checked that name several times), who’ll be joining his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman. (Freeman’s playing young Bilbo Baggins.) Cumberbatch’s involvement wasn’t meant to be announced yet, but Freeman spilled the beans about it early. It’s not known who Cumberbatch will play, but he’s rumored to be playing the human hero Bard the Bowman, who hasn’t been cast yet.

Jackson’s also cast 7-foot-tall Australian actor Conan Stevens to play an Orc named Azog. As for whether or not he’s qualified for the job of playing a giant, lumbering Orc, here’s him compared to Peter Jackson:

Yeah, he’ll do.

[via Blastr & indieWIRE]