Billy Connolly to play a dwarf in The Hobbit

Filming on the two Hobbit films may be well underway, but Peter Jackson is still adding actors to the cast. Legendary Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, who’s also had roles in such films as Mrs Brown, The X-Files: I Want To Believe, The Last Samurai and Gabriel And Me, has been cast as Dain Ironfoot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

In the book, Ironfoot – a dwarf – is the cousin of Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) who is involved in the Battle of the Five Armies, which means Connolly’s likely only to appear in the second film, The Hobbit: There And Back Again. However, Peter Jackson is well known for expanding roles, adding extra bits and bobs or rearranging the sequence of events, so who knows? 

Source: SFX