Dominic Monaghan will not appear in 'The Hobbit'.

The actor - who has played hobbit character Merry in all three of the previous 'Lord Of The Rings' movies - confesses he will not be involved in the problem-stricken prequel because his character would not be alive, although he would be up for a cameo role.

He said: "We've been saying that we'd love to come back as some sort of cameo, or turn up in the background, and Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have said that would be a great thing for us to do, but I think they've got slightly more important things to deal with before they talk about the four Hobbits doing a cameo."

Discussing the movie - which saw original director Guillermo Del Toro pull out earlier this year as well as union action in the last week - Dominic admits he knows little other than Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis are involved.

He told SFX magazine: "I know that Ian McKellen will be in it and obviously Andy Serkis will be in it, but apart from that I'm not sure who would be in it."