Just yesterday, we brought you the news that Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis had officially joined the cast of director Peter Jackson‘s highly anticipated prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy to reprise their roles as Gandalf and Gollum/Smeagol respectively.

Now comes word from Christopher Lee‘s camp that the actor, providing he is in good health, will reprise his role as Saruman in The Hobbit. Check out the official statement below.

“Slowly but surely, Peter Jackson has managed to secure the return of the majority of the major stars from The Lord of the Rings franchise for his soon to be shooting prequel, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

Sir. Christopher Lee had been in talks to reprise his role as the wizard Saruman and it now looks certain, providing that he is in good health, that he will be appearing in the movie.”

In other Hobbit news… according to IMDB via The Examiner, David Tennant (Doctor Who) is rumored to have has joined the cast of The Hobbit as Sindarin Elf King Thranduil, the father of Orlando Bloom‘s Legolas.

Back in December, we brought you the official news that Sylvester McCoy had been cast in The Hobbit as Radagast the Brown, if the Tennant rumors end up being true, The Hobbit will have two former Doctor’s in their cast, McCoy having been the 7th Doctor from 1987-1989, and Tennant having been the 10th Doctor from 2005-2010.

Production on The Hobbit is set to begin on February 14th in New Zealand.

The Hobbit: Part 1 is currently slated to hit theaters December 2012.

The Hobbit: Part 2 is currently slated to hit theaters December 2013.

The films star Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchette, Elijah Wood, Sylvester McCoy, Christopher Lee, Aidan Turner, Rob Kazinsky, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Ken Stott, Mikael Persbrandt, Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy, William Kircher and Stephen Hunter.