Trailer for ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’: no Benedict Cumberbatch?!

I didn’t see The Hobbit last year. From what I remember, I did see the original three Lord of the Rings movies, although I didn’t really give a crap about them. Sorry, Tolkien ladies and gentlemen. I think the LOTR trilogy is way boring. But if you enjoy it, God bless. If you enjoyed the LOTR trilogy and you saw The Hobbit last year on opening weekend, then you probably squealed a little when you saw the first trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Here you go:

Evangeline Lilly is an elf! Orlando Bloom’s Legolas has returned! So has Ian McKellen’s Gandalf and Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving. Martin Freeman is Bilbo. Richard Armitage is in there, and so is Luke Evans. Quick question: who’s the blonde elf doing the semi-voiceover at the very beginning? He’s got a decent voice. Is that Lee Pace?

But really, all you need to know is that Benedict Cumberbatch voices Smaug the Dragon. So… yeah. I might consider going to see this if only to support Cumby’s career. And because I’ve always wanted to have a sexual fantasy about a dragon with a posh British voice. I can’t be the only one!

Photos courtesy of EW, WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

50 Responses to “Trailer for ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’: no Benedict Cumberbatch?!”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. T.fanty says:

    I’m totally with you on the posh British dragon thing. I tried to watch the Hobbit, but after watching a dinner party at Bilbo Baggins’ house for what seemed like an hour, I gave up.

    Orlando Bloom looked CGI-ed out of humanity in it, but so hot.

    • Marty says:

      Evangeline Lily looks like she’s dressed up for a Zelda convention.

    • EscapedConvent says:

      @Fanty,

      That was exactly my experience with the Hobbit, too, even though I wanted to support it because I love Martin Freeman. It didn’t just seem like an hour, I’m afraid—it *was* close to an hour of the dwarves at Bilbo’s crib. Song after song, they sang—dirge-like dwarf songs, until I couldn’t take it anymore.

      • PortlandJan says:

        They learned their songwriting from one of the Vogon poetry generator websites.

    • Lucinda says:

      We just watched the first part this week and it was as bad as I feared. Peter Jackson is indulging all his desires to make it big and epic instead of just telling the damn story. There is no excuse for stretching it out beyond one movie. The book is simple and straightforward but he wants to put in all the stuff he was unable to put into the LOTR trilogy (which are much more complex books). The problem is these details don’t enhance the story of the Hobbit.

      • Michelle says:

        TOTALLY agree.

      • EscapedConvent says:

        You’re right, Lucinda. I wonder if anyone is going to sit through the next two movies? Stretching it to three movies was more than a bit much, & I love LOTR.

  2. LadyMTL says:

    I’m really not thrilled that they created Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) because come onnnnnn…not every movie needs a “token female” character. Also, is it me or does she look like a budget Robin Hood in that costume?

    Still, I’ll go and see it because I loved the book and I can’t freaking wait to see Smaug! I might not be a Cumberfan but I do love his voice.

    • Amelia says:

      At least she kicks butt.
      At first glance I thought she was Jennifer Garner, though.

      • LadyMTL says:

        True, it’ll be interesting to see another female elf who can kick butt (if you sort of count Arwen as the first one) but I generally dislike it when characters are invented just to placate a demographic.

        Also, I’m a bit of a Lord of the Rings nerd so there’s that too, lol.

    • lady mary. says:

      they should have had just liv tyler back as an elf,the elves look llike they belonged to a videogame

    • drea says:

      I totally agree. This new character is quite unnecessary, especially when there are already so many. Actually, there’s a lot about this trilogy that should be cut down and edited, starting with the fact that it’s a bloody trilogy. It all seems rather self-indulgent on Peter Jackson’s part, but well, the studio’s not going to say no to him now.

  3. moon says:

    Yup that’s Lee Pace.

    And this looks like one of those over-budgeted blockbuster sequels to a very successful first movie. Unnecessary and boring.

    • Stef Leppard says:

      The sequel is not “unnecessary” since the movies are based on a book and the end of the story hasn’t been told yet. The problem is that they really only needed to make one movie, not three! The book is so short, shorter than any of the LOTR books, and they were each made into one movie.

    • Amber says:

      It still is an over-budgeted, unnecessary money grab taken to an extreme, stretched over three, three hour movies. @Kaiser if you thought LOTRs was long and boring, PETER JACKSON’s:The Hobbit is not for you. I was excited about The Hobbit until it fell back into Jackson’s lap and then all of his choices just piled on. Time and age have shown me that LOTRs (great, but) weren’t flawless films themselves. Well, time, age, King Kong and The Lovely Bones. Fans thought/hoped Jackson’s love for Tolkien wouldn’t allow his ego and self-indulgence to undermine this like it has his other films. Yeah… Plus, Jackson’s still pulling that backwards/token/love interest/piece of a**, crap. Tauriel may kick butt, BUT she’s still there to be a love interest. Lilly confirmed it and it’s all people are talking about where her character’s concerned. If she’s a love interest of Legolas’, it’s to give Bloom more screen time, drag things out, and it’s just another example of how I feel Jackson’s approach to this was to convince casual, non-book reading, viewers that The Hobbit is a prequel that is somehow LOTRs part two. And these cameos, GAH! Viggo said no to a producer, btw. So somebody said no. I’ve never cared about Bloom, so I wouldn’t be going Yah! *drool*, anyway. But I can’t believe no one else is bothered that Legolas, 60 years b/f LOTRS, even w/ all the makeup, lighting and (likely) computer effects, still looks like he’s been smoking for a decade and a bit bloated. He certainly looks older than (Lee Pace) his father.

  4. Tish says:

    Why does Legolas look CGI? Why does Orlando Bloom playing two characters? Oh, wait. That’s just Luke Evans looking like Will Turner! I dunno if bad casting or bad make-up/styling.

  5. Micki says:

    Thre was a bit of Richard Armitage in the trailer, that’s enough

    • Amelia says:

      That’s enough for my *day*.
      Right, I’m off for a nap 🙂

    • An says:

      It was weird watching it because he plays a dwarf in the Hobbit but I was having these feelings of…mmm he’s hot. The dwarves are supposed to be gnarly and ugly in the book. Well, they got to keep the lady boners going.

      • Pharce says:

        I feel the same way – like he’s a dwarf, but the voice and the bearing he brings to the character … YUM. Combine this with Cumberbatch as the dragon and I might combust.

  6. Mia 4S says:

    I loved the LOTR but I did like the Hobbit, although I only saw it once.. That said, why are the effects so bad in this trailer??!! Some of it looks like a cartoon. WTF? I know they have a few more months to do effects but why put out a trailer that looks so bad?

  7. Chrissy says:

    Because there’s such a lack of long white-haired handsome regal characters in fantasy, I just can’t help (coming off Game of Thrones) but see Rhaegar Targaryen as a combination of Legolas and Thranduil (without those black caterpillar-esque eyebrows, of course).
    ^getting my nerd on!

  8. Adrien says:

    Yay, Legolas! Boo, female elf!

  9. GeeMoney says:

    No Cumberbatch? Oh, the horror. I love that man.

    But I enjoyed looking Orlando Bloom in that trailer. That’ll hold me until the movie comes out 🙂

  10. AngelaH says:

    That trailer needs more Aidan Turner.

  11. lady mary. says:

    that trailer needed atleast a teeny tiny bit of Smaug after all its majorly abt bringin him down,that said i am finally understanding Cumby’s charm,after watchin ,sherlock for the first time,lord ,i still can;t get those scenes outta my head in Scandal in belgravia ,where is wrapped himself in a silken sheet and heads off to the buckingham palace just like that ,it was so sexy in such a gentle subtle way and not so in ur face,there is def smthn abt him ,nowwhen can we hear Smaug and have our daily dose of season 3

    • EscapedConvent says:

      Congratulations, lady mary. You’ve been Cumberbatched!

      • lady mary. says:

        ha ha!thank u ,indeed ,i guess i have to admit ,i have officially been stamped ,sealed with the “cumberbitch “SEAL,i guess my intiation has begun……but jokes apart that man deserves all the credit ,its refreshin, to watch him,gives ur brain a mental jog

    • bluhare says:

      OK, I watched Sherlock just because I wanted to see if I’d go to the dark side if I saw him onscreen. Now that this is on Page 2, I can say that other than his voice the guy’s got the charisma of a bunch of overdone broccoli.

  12. grabbyhands says:

    Peeps-stop freaking about the CGI in the teaser. They’re still in production on the second movie, so we’re all still looking at an unfinished product. It’s going to look a lot better when the film comes out.

    And I’m not surprised we didn’t hear Smaug’s voice; in fact, I was surprised that we saw him at all considering it is kind of the money shot for the next movie. I would have thought they’d keep that under wraps for a while yet.

    • Tiff says:

      +10 cgi takes a long time to complete it will look better. Expecially the cgi of blooms blue contacts

  13. kpist says:

    The elf doing the narration at the beginning is King Thranduil, Legolas’ father

  14. Severine says:

    This bloke is the living proof the reptilians are among us!

  15. ds says:

    Lee Pace looks better with every new project he’s in. Hopefully he’ll get more attention.
    Wasn’t Cumberbatch supposed to play Necromancer?

  16. Reece says:

    Yes that’s Lee Pace in the beginning doing the voiceover. He plays Thranduril, Elven King in Mirkwood, Legolas’ father, dwarf imprisoner. Legolas is being a whiny little princeling! So happy right now! *nerdgasm*

    Although I’m still wondering if they get all the way to Smaugs “desolation” in this what the frick is the 3rd movie about? Also, I know I’m supposed to be all “yay a girl” but I’m still not sold on Tauriel. I’ll just have to wait and trust PJ.

    • Tiff says:

      What makes you say Legolas seems whiny? He seems anything but.

      • Lia says:

        I agree. No whiny prince there

      • Reece says:

        When he says “this is not our fight”. Maybe it’s the line delivery but it sounded whiny to me.
        It doesn’t take anything away. I love me some Legolas. I think it may make him a little more interesting character-wise for him to be reluctant in this. He’s still pretty young, even in LOTR, by Elvish standards.

        To clarify, i know what happens in the 3rd movie. I’m just wondering how PJ will fill 2hrs.

  17. Lia says:

    I agree I love the hobbit. But it’s not lotr two films would have been enough.

  18. Anna says:

    I think they know we want THE BATCH to they are teasing it out…

    But can someone explain why all the real people look like computer graphics? Orly is gorgeous and had his own face in the LOTR movies – WTF is with him now and WHYYYYYY???

    • grabbyhands says:

      Since it’s just a teaser and not a full trailer, we’re still seeing a rough cut because the film is till in production. The trailer and the movie will look better.

  19. rita says:

    Lee Pace! Can we talk about him more on this site? Love him.

  20. efwcheryl says:

    PortlandJan is my new hero for her vogon comment! A double-shot of Martin Freeman-wheeeeee!!

  21. E. says:

    Orlando Bloom is using the Distant Shore app on his Iphone?????????????? Cool, I wonder what he writes there. People do never know it is him…I bet it is a lot of fun to him!