[SuziQ]

I really don't see why Ian Holm couldn't come back as Bilbo, if he wanted to do it. In the flashbacks in the Trilogy, Ian Holm is wearing a wig that's slightly darker, but, at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring, when Bilbo opens the door, Gandalf hugs him, then says, with a curious tone, "You haven't aged a day!"

So, if at the beginning of the trilogy, Bilbo looks the same age as at the end of the Hobbit, because of the effect of the One Ring, I don't see why Ian Holm couldn't play him. The filmakers could 'age' him slowly through the Hobbit, to match with the younger, then older Bilbo in the Trilogy.

[Charles Henrickson]

Ian Holm is a wonderful actor, but he is now 76, and would be 77-78 during filming. That’s even significantly older than when they were filming LOTR. I don’t think it would work. The movie audience would expect a Bilbo like unto the Frodo they saw. I vote for James McAvoy if he is available and wants to do it.