The Lord of the Rings (film series) September 2009, the dispute was settled. The success of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy led to Jackson directing a trilogy of prequels based on Tolkien's children's book "The Hobbit". The films, which were released between 2012 and 2014, used much of the cast and crew of "The Lord of the Rings", including Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm (as older Bilbo), Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom who reprised their roles. Although the "Hobbit" films were even more commercially successful than "The Lord of the Rings", they received mixed reviews from critics. Numerous video
Saruman in the book of "wraithing", a distinctive 20th-century view of evil that he attributes to Tolkien in which individuals are "'eaten up inside' by devotion to some abstraction". Referring to Saruman's demise, Kocher says that he is one example of the consistent theme of nothingness as the fate of evil throughout "The Lord of the Rings". Saruman has appeared in film, audio and stage adaptations of "The Lord of the Rings". BBC Radio produced the first adaptation in 1956, in which Saruman was played by Robert Farquharson, and which has not survived. Tolkien was apparently disappointed by it. In Ralph