New Hobbit Photos Show Us Gandalf, Dwarves And Gollum

Just yesterday, we showed you the cover of this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly, which features two characters likely to be very familiar to fans of J.R.R Tolkien's work and the films based on his books. With the issue reportedly on shelves today, EW has posted a number of photos from the greatly anticipated first part of Peter Jackson's feature adaptation of Tolkien's The Hobbit. This includes a look at the dwarves, Gandalf, and a certain fish-loving cave-dweller.

The Hobbit will be broken up into two films, with An Unexpected Journey set to arrive in theaters this December (12/14), and There and Back Again on track to release almost exactly one year later (December 13, 2013). In addition to a guide to this year's Comic Con, this week's issue of EW features coverage of The Hobbit. And among the numerous photos Entertainment Weekly posted on their site this week is this one, which shows Ian McKellan as Gandalf. Judging by the lush green background and the tininess of the fence near his legs, it's likely that we're looking at him in Hobbiton, where he's visiting Bilbo in his attempt to recruit him for a journey.



McKellan isn't the only familiar face Lord of the Rings fans should expect to see in The Hobbit. This one gives us a look at Andy Serkis as Gollum.



Apparently the actor didn't have much trouble getting back into the motion captured role. In fact, EW quotes Serkis as saying "He's always been kind of lurking under my skin." That's kind of creepy, but I love it.

And this one gives us a look at the dwarves, including Being Human's Aidan Turner, who plays Kili (second from the left). All the way to the left is Dean O'Gorman as Fili. Mark Hadlow is the third from the left, playing Dori, and all the way to the right os Jed Brophy as Nori.



And last, but most definitely not least, we have Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins as he faces giant spiders in Mirkwood Forest.



By comparison to the cover photo, I prefer this version of Bilbo better, especially seeing him with Sting in hand and the slightly fearful but determined look on his dirt-covered face. That's the look of a hobbit on an adventure.

View the rest of EW's new Hobbit photos here. And we have more information, photos and videos for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in our Blend Film Database.