Director Peter Jackson recently updated his Facebook page with news that actors Lee Pace and Dean O'Gorman have joined the cast of The Hobbit. Lee Pace will play King Thranduil and Dean O'Gorman plays Fili. Here's the post Peter Jackson left on his Facebook page.

"I'm very pleased to be welcoming two new cast members to our team.

Dean O'Gorman will be playing Fili. Dean's a terrific Kiwi actor, who I am thrilled to be working with. He's recently been in an excellent TV series down here called The Almighty Johnsons, and I should let fans of that show know that our shooting schedule allows Dean to continue with a second series next year. Dean will be joining us next week.

I'm also pleased to announce that Lee Pace will be playing the Elven King Thranduil. Casting these Tolkien stories is very difficult, especially the Elven characters, and Lee has always been our first choice for Thranduil. He's going to be great. We loved his performance in a movie called The Fall a few years ago, and have been hoping to work with him since. When we were first discussing who would be right for Thranduil, Lee came into mind almost immediately.

It's been a great week, and I'm looking forward to the next few. It's going to be interesting...

More soon.

Cheers,

Peter J"

We reported a few days ago that actor Robert Kazinsky left The Hobbit's role of Fili for personal reasons. It didn't take long for Peter Jackson to find a replacement.