Saoirse Ronan Circled for Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit' — Likely as 'Itaril'

The Hobbit rumor mill, never idle, has produced its most intriguing name yet: Saoirse Ronan, the 16-year-old Oscar nominee from Atonement and Hanna, is reported to be in early talks for a role in Peter Jackson's two-film adaptation — most likely a female elf warrior called 'Itaril,' a character appearing nowhere in Tolkien's 1937 novel.

The casting sheet describing Itaril leaked during the project's earlier Guillermo del Toro era, immediately dividing fandom along the eternal fault line: purists note The Hobbit contains precisely zero named female characters, while pragmatists note that three films of exclusively bearded men is a commercial decision no studio will make.

Ronan's people aren't commenting, and the production — freshly through financing delays, a director change and a union standoff — has bigger fires.

Update: Itaril never materialized and neither did Ronan. The invented-elf slot eventually went to Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel in the second film — inheriting the exact controversy this rumor previewed. Ronan did fine: four Oscar nominations and counting.