Elijah Wood to Reprise Frodo Baggins Role in 'The Hobbit'

New Line Cinema

Elijah Wood is in negotiations to reprise his role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit.

Wood and his reps entered negotiations in mid-December but dealmaking was sidelined during the holidays when agencies and studios shut down for two weeks.

Negotiations ramped up again this week just as Warner Bros. and MGM, emerging from bankruptcy, inked a deal in regards to financing and distribution.

Frodo is the central character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books (and in Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy), but doesn’t appear in Tolkien’s first book, The Hobbit, set in Middle Earth.

Bilbo Baggins, who was played by Ian Holm in the trilogy is Frodo’s much older cousin.

Martin Freeman is playing Bilbo in the Hobbit adaptation. It is unclear if the production would age Freeman to play an older Bilbo or whether Holm would return.

While New Line would not comment on script details, LOTR website TheOneRing.net posted details of how Frodo would appear in the new two-movie version: (spoiler alert!) Frodo hears the adventurous tale that took place in The Hobbit from Bilbo, who frames the movie.

In addition to Hobbit, Wood has also signed on to play “Ben Gunn” in a new adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island along side Eddie Izzard. The two-part, four-hour miniseries, being directed by Steve Barron (who long ago directed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), will air on SKY TV in the UK.

Wood is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and attorneys Neil Meyer and Doug Stone.