Martin Freeman will star as a hobbit in Peter Jackson's upcoming film , Deadline reports .

Rumors have been circulating since September 2010 that Freeman, best known for his role as Watson in the Sherlock miniseries, has been offered the role of young Bilbo Baggins. According to Deadline, Warner Bros. (which, as previously reported, was ready to postpone the start of the project for Freeman’s sake) coordinates the actor’s filming schedule with the BBC so that he can continue filming Sherlock at the same time.

Relatively little is known about the other members of The Hobbit. For example, it was previously reported that Sir Ian McKellen will return as Gandalf, and Andy Serkis will return to the role of Gollum. In addition, according to Pajiba , James Nesbitt was offered the role of Bofur, one of Bilbo's companions, and Jackson himself, according to Empire , would like to see David Tennant and Michael Fassbender in his own film.

The fact that Jackson would direct The Hobbit became known on Saturday, October 16, 2010. It was then reported that filming would begin in February 2011.

The main difficulty currently preventing the start of filming is the conflict with the Australian trade unions (about 10 percent of New Zealand actors working on the set of The Hobbit are members of the Australian trade union). The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance has demanded special conditions from Warner Bros. for its members when working on set.

Currently, negotiations involving the New Zealand government have come to nothing and Australian union members have been ordered not to work. However, Warner stated that if the situation is not resolved, filming will be moved to another location. The company is reportedly currently considering at least five possible locations for The Hobbit.

Let us remember that a variety of people applied for the director's chair of The Hobbit. For example, at one time the director of the film was listed as Guillermo del Toro, who, unable to withstand numerous delays with the project, left it.

Peter Jackson has found an actor to play the Hobbit