After yesterday’s medical setback for The Hobbit’s shooting schedule, there might just be some good news for the film, as it’s looking likely that Saoirse Ronan will be moving from the “rumoured” pile onto the cast list.

While we’ve yet to see one of the big official announcements about this particular bit of casting news, the fact that it comes from part of the film’s casting team, Ros Hubbard, is a good sign.

Talking to The Irish Film & Television Network (via Coming Soon) about her career, the subject turned to matters of the Hobbit, and the fact that many Irish performers, including Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt and Ronan have been added to the cast.

“Jimmy (Nesbitt) is thrilled to bits, his whole family have gone out, it is just wonderful. And working with Peter Jackson is like working with a family. So they’ll have a great time. Saoirse’s family will go too, everyone is very close and very loving on those sorts of jobs. It’s not like typical studio movies at all.”

Since Ronan has recently said that she’s yet to be offered anything in the film, we’re going to wait until the production puts it in writing before considering her a done deal. But she’s been rumoured for a while now for the role of female elf warrior maiden Itaril and given that Jackson worked with her on The Lovely Bones, she’s got to be considered a strong contender to show up on set.