Just last month, we brought you a report that stated Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, Violet & Daisy), who will next be seen as the 16-year-old raised by her father to be the perfect assassin in director Joe Wright‘s upcoming thriller Hanna, had been cast in director Peter Jackson‘s return to middle earth with The Hobbit: Part 1, rumored to be playing the part of Itaril, a Silvan Elf.

Confirmation of her casting came by way of casting director Ros Hubbard, who mentioned Saoirse Ronan, in a conversation with IFTN about Irish-born actors who were previously cast, including Aidan Turner and James Nesbitt.

Hubbard said,

“Yes, there was quite a lot of influence there! We had been wanting to to put Aidan Turner into film for a long time because he had done an awful lot of TV and we told him when we finally met him “We are going to concentrate in getting you into the movies.” I didn’t think it would be as big as this. But how great for him.

And Jimmy,is thrilled to bits, his whole family have gone out, it is just wonderful. And working with Peter Jackson is like working with a family. So they’ll have a great time. Saoirse’s family will go too, everyone is very close and very loving on those sorts of jobs. It’s not like typical studio movies at all.”

At this past weekend’s Irish Film and Television Awards, Ronan herself spoke with The Irish Times about appearing in the The Hobbit, and the actress took the opportunity to clear up that report:

“No, nothing has actually been confirmed yet. I’d love to get a role in The Hobbit. I think everybody in the world would like a role in The Hobbit.”

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.