As one of the very few characters who appears in both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, there should be no question as to whether or not Sir Ian McKellen would return to his role. Stranger things have happened, but luckily it sounds like this won’t be one of them. Via his website McKellen.com, McKellen talks about the upcoming production. Asked if he will be involved the actor says, “Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor.” He goes on to say, “Encouragingly, Peter and Fran Walsh have told me they couldn’t imagine The Hobbit without their original Gandalf. Their confidence hasn’t yet been confirmed by the director Guillermo del Toro but I am keeping my diary free for 2009!” So there you go. Barring some disaster it sounds like we’ll be getting our Gandalf the Grey back in a few years.