You knew it was too good to be true. Late last month there was a rumor going around that James McAvoy might be in the running to play young Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s new Hobbit movie. Fandom, appropriately, applauded in approval. I can’t imagine anyone more perfect for the part. Unfortunately, he won’t be playing it.

The guys at Collider say they caught up with McAvoy in London and riddled him with the Hobbit question. McAvoy’s response? “It's not true by the way, it's all internet rumoring and nothing else I'm afraid. Sorry.” Bummer, but hardly a surprise.

I don’t think this necessarily means it’s impossible though. It simply means that no one has actually approached him about it. The Hobbit is still very early in the development process. Del Toro and Jackson have already made it clear that it’ll be some time before they seriously start considering casting. When they do, maybe they’ll reach out to James. For now though, consider this particular rumor debunked.