Peter Jackson Cast Lee Pace In The Hobbit Because Of Pushing Daisies Show

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Lee Pace revealed that he got his role in The Hobbit trilogy because Peter Jackson liked his work on the TV series Pushing Daisies. The short-lived show, which ran for two seasons after it premiered on ABC in 2007, was created by Hannibal's Bryan Fuller. It follows Ned (Pace), a humble piemaker who has the power to reanimate the dead with a single touch, but if he touches them a second time they die permanently. When he reanimates his former childhood crush Chuck (Anna Friel), their romance develops in spite of the fact that they can never touch while he uses his power to solve a variety of colorful murder mysteries. The show also starred Chi McBride, Kristin Chenoweth, Ellen Greene, and Swoozie Kurtz, who can now be seen on the Mayim Bialik sitcom Call Me Kat.

In the years since Pushing Daisies, Lee Pace's career has taken him to some incredible places. The actor stepped into some major franchises in the early 2010s, including playing Garrett in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2, the Elven king Thranduil in Peter Jackon's Hobbit trilogy, and the villainous Ronan in the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel. His most recent work is playing Brother Day on the 2021 Apple TV+ science fiction series Foundation, which has been renewed for a second season.

Related: The Rings Of Power Needs To Avoid The Hobbit Trilogy's Biggest Mistake

While speaking with Vulture, Pace was asked about how he felt about working on Pushing Daisies all these years later. He looked back on the show fondly, saying that he's a completely different person now than he was then, but "it changed my life in a lot of ways" and that "I… learned how to do my job with those people." He then shared an anecdote about Peter Jackson telling him