Actor Richard Armitage returns as Thorin, the leader of the dwarves, in the second "Hobbit" film.
Luke Evans makes his debut as Bard the Bowman, who eventually joins the dwarves in their battle against the devious dragon named Smaug.
"Bard is here to save the day," said Evans. "It's time for the humans to arrive and the only human really that stays in the story, so yeah it's a big responsibility."
"All of a sudden there's politics, there's deception, there's darkness, there's a threat," said Evans, "and that's why there's this pace to the second film. It's much like an action movie than it is a fairy tale fantasy."
Sometimes the action got a little too real for the cast.
"Well this little fellow between my eyes, which is considerably smaller now, was me cutting myself with orcrist. It happened underneath the prosthetic and one of our onset doctors came and there was a huge kind of gash in the silicone. And he said it was bleeding through the silicone and he said, 'I'm going to have to take you to the hospital and stitch it up,'" said Armitage. "He didn't realize I was wearing a silicone forehead."
As for Evans, we'll have until the final film next year to see his biggest physical challenges.
"There was quite a lot in the third movie physically that was very, very demanding," said Evans. "I can't tell you but there are some incredibly strenuous things."
The final part of the epic journey, "The Hobbit: There and Back Again" won't be in theaters until December 2014.
Meanwhile, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" is in theaters now.
