While doing a round of interviews on the set of the UK’s Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch revealed a pretty big Hobbit spoiler…about which he seemed absolutely oblivious.

Before I delve any further, we’ve had enough SPOILERS on this site over the past few weeks that you should know the deal by now, but in case you’re not familiar…stop reading!!! Unless you actually want to see the reveal, in which case, you are by all means most welcome.

In an interview with Empire, Cumberbatch revealed that the Necromancer from Mirkwood Forset, a lesser discussed menace in Tolkien’s The Hobbit, will join the evil forces at the Battle of Five Armies…at least in some capacity. Here’s the exact quote:

I’m playing Smaug through motion-capture and voicing the Necromancer, which is a character in the Five Legions War or something which I’m meant to understand. He’s not actually in the original Hobbit.

This, in itself, isn’t too great of a disparity between the books. That is, until you remember who the Necromancer actually is. For those of you who never took the time to read Tolkien’s explanatory work concerning the evil that lay in Dol Guldur, let me elaborate: the Necromancer is none other than Sauron himself. Pretty awesome, right? I must admit, I’m somewhat offended that Cumberbatch could so dismissively discuss this character and with so many inaccuracies to boot! Unless he’s trying to be purposely aloof, so as to give us fans something juicy to mull over in the coming months without upsetting the good Sir Peter Jackson.

In any case, now that we know this tid bit about Peter Jackon’s adaptation, it certainly seems like he’s trying his hardest to bridge the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. What do you guys think? Has Jackson tampered with the source material too much, or is this the perfect way to link the series?

And while you’re here, you might as well enjoy this latest image from the set. It features dear old Bilbo, played by the ever endearing Martin Freeman, as he peruses through the forest.

