It certainly took forever for things to actually get moving on The Hobbit, but now that they are, the spinning carousel of news just won’t stop. Acclaimed British actor James Nesbitt has just been cast as Bofur. For those of you unfamiliar with Tolkein’s book, Bofur is a witty, straight-forward dwarf who mans up when he’s called to action. While less known over here in the States, Nesbitt is quite famous in Britain and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in Jekyll.

According to Deadline, Nesbitt will be joined in both Hobbit movies by newcomer Adam Brown who will play Ori, another dwarf who joins the proceedings.

With pre-production already in full swing and new actors joining the cast almost daily, it’s finally starting to feel like The Hobbit is a real movie and not a figment of Peter Jackson’s imagination. Don’t get too excited though. Filming two movies is quite a substantial undertaking, and as such, the first isn’t scheduled for release until December of 2012. To put that in perspective, we’ll already know whether President Obama will be getting a second term or not when this sees the light of day. Still, the casting of James Nesbitt is particularly exciting and should add a little more credibility to a film already being showered with awards by Lord Of The Rings’ fanatics.