Two were planned originally, but somewhere in the process Jackson decided that he had enough material for three movies, and since everything he touches turns to money, the studio allowed it.

I don't particularly want to see the Cumberbatch war on my blog, so I'll just say that I find him attractive and haven't seen enough on his work to comment on his acting and leave it at that. ;) I love Freeman as an actor -- his Watson is one of my favorite things about the BBC Sherlock -- and, unlike some folks on Tumblr I felt like he really inhabited this role; I never thought "oh look, it's John Watson (or Arthur Dent) as a hobbit". It helps, for me, that the costume and makeup enhanced his resemblance to Ian Holm, so it was very easy for me to see the two actors as the same character at different ages.