Del Toro recently spoke with German television, and said that he will be casting himself in The Hobbit as a creature:

“…not an important one, just a background guy.”

Over at The One Ring message boards the story was picked up, prompting Del Toro himself to stop in and confirm the news:

“I had a hand on the design of the creature and I will personally sculpt the appliances that will be applied on my face and hands. I used to sculpt the creatures for NECROPIA (my FX company) and I miss it a bit. I will have a line or two and die quickly.”

In addition to that bit of casting news. Viggo Mortensen recently said that both Jackson and Del Toro are looking for ways to incorporate many of the actors from the first trilogy into The Hobbit, even though some of the characters didn’t necessarily appear in the novel.

Mortensen’s Aragorn character is not part of ‘The Hobbit’ lexicon, unless you include the supplemental appendices from “The Lord of the Rings” that tied the two stories together.

Mortensen Said;

“I think they’re just worried about shooting the first part of that movie which doesn’t involve my character. My character is around at times—in the middle. But it would only be if they made a second movie or connecting movie that connected ‘The Hobbit’ to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ that I might appear, which would be great.”