Orlando Bloomslugbelch chimed in to let us know Orlando Bloom will be on “Live with Regis and Kelly” Tuesday, April 25. Will he talk about heading down to NZ for ‘The Hobbit’? Check local listings.

In a Facebook comment just posted moments ago, Director Peter Jackson confirms Ian Holm’s involvement in The Hobbit films and clarifies the voice at the end of last week’s video:

One comment that came up from the recent video blog was the Bilbo voice at the end—many of you assumed it was Sir Ian Holm. Whilst Ian will be returning as the older Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, that recording was actually Martin Freeman’s voice, taken from a script read through we recorded when the cast first arrived. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure who it was when I first heard it, either. Cheers, Peter J

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Peter Jackson has posted another note on his official Facebook wall. In it he talks about the three phases of filming, a few stories from FOTR filming and a hint at what will be filming next:

Just arrived at our four-day Easter break, which will be a nice time to recharge batteries and do a few script tweaks for future scenes.

We always find there are three distinct phases in the life of a film script. First, it exists before the film starts shooting. In this period, which can last from months to years, the script is a theoretical docum…

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Eddard StarkHBO’s big, new fantasy series “A Game of Thrones,” starring Sean Bean marches on with its second episode this Sunday and now with a second season approved. The folks at HBO have sent us two new clips to share with readers this week. Although neither of them feature Bean, there were lot of positive reactions to our clips last week from our Middle-earth fanbase so we thought we would share the clips, featuring scenes from the second hour of the 10-hour first season. Enjoy!

Ep. 2 Clip – Jaime and Jon in Winterfell Courtyard

Ep. 2 Clip – Dany with Her Handmaidens

MSN published a ‘Where are they now?‘ feature today outlining the main roles from The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. As the name implies, the article highlights a few of the actors and, wait for it, what they are doing now! Ringer Malintatherian, who sent us the link, observed that MSN accidentally used a picture of Merry when writing of Billy Boyd. Hobbit are hard to distinguish sometimes! Check out the full article at MSN.com. [Read On]

HBO has picked up a second season of fantasy series “Game of Thrones” on the heels of solid numbers for Sunday’s premiere. Genre shows have been popular with young adults over the past year, with HBO’s “True Blood” and AMC’s “The Walking Dead” often beating their broadcast competition in adults 18-49.

On its opening night, “Thrones” drew 2.2 million viewers in its regular 9 o’clock slot, and then added another 1.2 million for its quickie repeat at 10:05 p.m. (where it likely picked up viewers following the completion of the Boston-New York NBA playoff game on TNT). Throw in the 11:15 p.m. airing (800,000) and “Thrones” drew 4.2 million viewers, according to HBO. More..