‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ Orlando Bloom Returns As Legolas; Actor Has ‘Sheer Joy’ On Return To Set

Legolas stood out as one of the most likable characters in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Orlando Bloom was a big reason for that.

Now the character is re-introduced in "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" and it was quite a surprise since Legolas was not introduced by J.R.R. Tolkien in the LOTR trilogy which took place sixty years after The Hobbit events.

This is part of Peter Jackson's creative vision, of which Bloom is a big fan. He expresses that in his interview with Collider:

On his reaction getting back to the set: "It was sheer joy. It was also a little bit of, "Oh, my word." This is ten years later, I'm ten years older and how's this all going to work? I quite literally was like, "Can I just try on my old costume just for posterity of it all?" It was amazing that Pete was back at the helm of this movie, and it was amazing that I got a call to say we would love you to be a part of the film. I was just full of excitement. I was obviously like, "Ooh! This is going to be interesting to make the transition as an Elf being ten years older as myself, as an actor, going in to playing a character that would be younger, but as Elves are kind of ageless anyway we've managed to bridge the gap."

On the difference between Legolas in LOTR and Legolas in The Hobbit: "Not much. Essentially the Woodland Realm Elves, which is where Legolas is from, and my father being Thranduil, the king of those Elves, are a particular type of Elf as described by Tolkien to be... I'm not going to quote him correctly, but they are different from the Lothlorien and the Rivendell elves. They're more militant if you like. Legolas in Lord Of The Rings was sent as a bridge from his people into the world of dwarves and humans and wizards and everything else. This is an introduction into the Woodland Realm Elves. Obviously we meet my father, Thranduil, who is a very powerful and strong character who is very particular in his vision of who the Elves are, who the Woodland Elves are, specifically. They are kind of, like I said, a militant group, the Woodland Realm Elves. So I think that the opportunity that Pete and Philippa and Fran and the writers and Pete saw was to create- I think there was a desire for Legolas to come back. They felt that the fans would appreciate seeing Legolas in the Woodland Realm, and there was an opportunity to create a father-son, a prince versus king dynamic that would be interesting and serve the story."

Bloom gives a hint of an explanation. There will be more details coming out before the movie's release on December 13.