Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen in “Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug” posters

PanARMENIAN.Net - New posters have been unveiled for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Digital Spy said.

Martin Freeman and Sir Ian McKellen feature as returning characters Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey in the upcoming sequel.

Luke Evans also appears as Bard the Bowman, while Lee Pace features as Elvenking Thranduil.

Orlando Bloom and McKellen will introduce a new trailer for the film on The Today Show later on October 1.

The second film in the series will star Richard Armitage, Sylvester McCoy, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry and Evangeline Lilly.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be released on December 13, with final film There And Back Again following in December 2014.

The Hobbit is a series of three epic fantasy adventure films directed, produced, and adapted to film by Peter Jackson, based on J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 fantasy novel, The Hobbit. The films are, by subtitle, An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and There and Back Again (2014). Just as Tolkien's three-volume novel, The Lord of the Rings, continues themes and issues introduced in his earlier novel, The Hobbit, in the same way, Jackson's three Hobbit films together are imagined as a prequel to Jackson's earlier film adaptation of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novel.

Several actors reprise their roles from The Lord of the Rings, including Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, and Hugo Weaving, as well as actors whose characters did not appear in the novel, such as Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Elijah Wood, and Orlando Bloom. Also returning for the production, among others, were co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, illustrators John Howe and Alan Lee, art director Dan Hennah, cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, and composer Howard Shore. As with the original trilogy, props will generally be crafted by Weta Workshop and visual effects managed by Weta Digital. The most significant new involvement in the series is the participation of Guillermo del Toro, originally chosen to direct the films, as co-writer.

Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the three films follow the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), chosen by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), to accompany thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch).