If you looked up “anticipation” in the dictionary you’d find a picture of Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens collectively wearing the keys on their respective laptops down to dusty nubs while they crank through their draft for the del Toro directed Hobbit. But now, the conduit for all our recent Hobbit related news, Sir Ian McKellen, has spilled the beans to Sci Fi Wire that he has read the script, he likes it, and that I still have a shot at landing the role of Bilbo.

The scripts for the LOTR films weren’t written with specific actors in mind, but McKellen has enjoyed the fact that the role of Gandalf in the scripts for the two part Hobbit were written just for him. “So it's extremely attractive that this part has been written for me. The other Gandalf was written for, well, just as Gandalf. There's lots for me to enjoy, in all sorts of ways. And I couldn't be happier. But I'm sworn to secrecy. I'm not to say anything at all about the script.” The downside to that is that his is the ONLY part that they could write as such, but with the amount of writing talent on the payroll for these films there’s no doubt that every other role will be just as brilliantly crafted as McKellen’s.

According to McKellen, the scripts were also written to the directorial strengths of Guillermo del Toro, which hopefully will mean we’ll see a brilliantly acted, action packed film with some amazing cinematography and make-up effects. Jackson and del Toro are undoubtedly two of the greatest filmmakers of the modern era, and if anything Sir McKellen said is right, their collaboration will be nothing short of legendary.