It’s time to talk Hobbit movie news and rumours again in the Hall of Fire!

It’s been a momentous couple of weeks, with casting announcements for the dwarf Fili, Thranduil the Sindarin king of Mirkwood and for the Orc King of Moria Azog. Orlando Bloom looks to be edging closer to reprising his role as shield-surfer extraordinaire Legolas, while Hugo Weaving is already in New Zealand filming scenes as Elrond Half-elven.

But it seems that the announcement that has everyone well and truly buzzing is that Stephen Fry is set to play the Master of Laketown.

Still what’s caught your keen eyes and ears over the past couple weeks?

Be sure to join us on Saturday May 21 from 6pm EDT in #thehalloffire on our IRC server and help us dissect all the latest news from the production.

Upcoming chats in Hall of Fire

May 21/22 — Movie rumour round-up
May 28/29 — Book recap. The Hobbit Ch 1-5
June 4/5— Did Frodo Fail in his Quest?
June 11/12 — The Hobbit Ch 6

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help.

America:
6.00pm EDT (New York)
5.00pm CDT (Chicago)
4.00pm MDT (Denver)
3.00pm PDT (Los Angeles)

Europe:
10.00pm GMT (London)

Asia-Pacific
8.00am (Sunday) Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne
11.00am (Sunday) Wellington

Our chats usually last an hour or so, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!

Where — connection details

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net — the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser. Alternatively, you can install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer and just plug in the following connection details.

Server: irc.theonering.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #thehalloffire