Some new glimpses from the upcoming second chapter of The Hobbit trilogy, THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, have arrived via Empire, including some on-set pics with director Peter Jackson and the cast as well as a few character shots of Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel, and Lee Pace as Thranduil. Additionally, there’s the cover to the print edition of Empire, which unites all three elves. We’ve still got a good wait before the film hits theaters, but with the recent trailer and new images filtering in the buzz is slowly starting to build again for a trip back to Middle Earth. Or not, as some folks have seemed to tire of the franchise when the first film, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY didn’t live up to the “second coming of cinema” expectations.
Here’s the images:
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, John Bell, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Michael Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Mikael Persbrandt, Ken Stott, and Aidan Turner hits theaters on December 13, 2013.