The Necromancer

[Lalwendë]

This story might prove interesting.

Jackson did make a few changes from J.R.R. Tolkien's original The Hobbit novel, adding in characters like Saruman (Christopher Lee) from The Lord of the Rings trilogy into The Hobbit. In Lee's Christmas address (via TheOneRing.net), Lee revealed that Saruman won't be the villain but is instead a "good and noble man" in The Hobbit.

"Saruman, whom I play again, is indeed still Saruman the White, but he is a good and noble man and the head of the Council of Wizards, as he always was."

How Saruman goes from white to dark is tied to actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who has been cast not only as the dragon Smaug, but also as voice of the Necromancer, as the actor recently explained to Empire.

"I’m playing Smaug through motion-capture and voicing the Necromancer, which is a character in the Five Legions War or something which I’m meant to understand. He’s not actually in the original Hobbit. It’s something [Peter Jackson]’s taken from Lord Of The Rings that he wants to put in there."

Cumberbatch actually means the Battle of Five Armies, not "the Five Legions War," but in doing so, Cumberbatch has revealed a major link between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. See, the Necromancer is Saruman, or at least the dark spirit that inhabits him. In the book, Gandalf leaves Bilbo and the company of dwarves to attend to "important business" — driving the Necromancer out of Mirkwood. Gandalf does so before the Battle of Five Armies, but if what Cumberbatch says is correct, Jackson could be planning to have Gandalf's battle with the Necromancer, aka Sauron, at the same time of the Battle of Five Armies, or so Empire speculates.

I would hope for a struggle involving lots of Light and Saruman showing off his incredible intellect and power in the days before he was corrupted into breaking the Light, and maybe a hint of how he got to the stage he is at in Lord of the Rings. I suspect I might not like it completely, judging by what Cumberbatch says, though of course that could well be him being a bit sniffy and dismissive about the source material for his next film role

I do think it will involve heavy amounts of special effects as Cumberbatch and Chris Lee have already been filming and I think this was done in the UK, not in New Zealand, as Sir Chris Lee (not to forget his deserved title!) is now a very old chap (he is 90 in May) and I think flying all that way is probably out of the question. I have to confess I'm really looking forwards to this purely because I'll get to enjoy him as Saruman again.