Sir Ian McKellen Returns As Gandalf

That's Sir Ian McKellen to you...or, if you prefer, you can call him Gandalf.

According to BBC News, actor Sir Ian McKellen will reprise his role as Gandalf for the upcoming film adaptaion of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

McKellen played Gandalf in the block-buster Peter Jackson trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, based on Tolkien's books of the same name. He has been known to play men of great power in fantasy flicks as of late; he was also Magneto in the X-Men film trilogy.

The Hobbit story will be split up into two films. One will be released in 2010, the other in 2011. They are prequels to the trilogy that Peter Jackson treated cinematically. This time, the director chosen for the task is Guillermo del Toro, director of the popular Pan's Labyrinth, among other acclaimed films.

Guillermo del Toro is currently finishing Hellboy 2, according to BBC, but he will be starting the Hobbit script right after, in approximately six weeks. The first film will be a straight adaptation of the Tolkien prequel of the same name. The second film, however, will be an original story.

In the story of the Rings, there lies a huge gap in between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The second film will cover the 60 years that are missing from the story line.

Although details have not been completely worked out, McKellen says, "I can tell you it's going to be amazing."