The British actor originally turned down the role due to scheduling issues which have now been worked out.

The Hobbit Getting Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins?
September 8th, 2010



British actor Martin Freeman, best known as Tim from the original version of The Office, is apparently close to portraying Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, according to Entertainment Weekly.

There was a story making the rounds yesterday from The Sun which indicated that Martin Freeman had turned down the Bilbo Baggins role because he is committed to the BBC series Sherlock, where he plays Watson. Entertainment Weekly's story reveals that, while The Sun's story was true, it seems that MGM has come up with an alternative shooting schedule which will allow Martin Freeman to shoot both projects.

In August, Peter Jackson revealed progress was being made on The Hobbit. It seems like they are still moving forward and seeking out actors for the movie so we may just hear some official details on The Hobbit in the very near future.

The Hobbit is in development and stars Cate Blanchett, Ron Perlman, Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Doug Jones.