The new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has debuted, offering fans their long-awaited first glimpse of the titular dragon, as voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. The Star Trek Into Darkness and Sherlock star is joined by returning stars Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, as Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey respectively.

The first instalment of The Hobbit (An Unexpected Journey) was criticised in some corners for being a little too faithful to the text, with director Peter Jackson often seeming to recreate JRR Tolkien's novel word-for-laborious-word. The trailer for part two hints that the extended running time for the trilogy as a whole will be more justified, with more attention paid to Gandalf's investigation of the Necromancer – the shadowy presence who goes on to become Lord Sauron in The Lord of the Rings (Sauron's flaming eye is glimpsed around the halfway mark). There's also time spent developing a romantic subplot for Orlando Bloom's Legolas – another aspect that was missing from Tolkein's original novel.

Hobbit purists needn't fret though, as the trailer also offers a number of much-loved scenes and characters from the book, including the spiders of Mirkwood, the dwarves' barrel ride, Bard of Laketown and, of course, Bilbo's first encounter with the deadly Smaug himself.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is on general release from Fri 13 Dec 2013.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - HD Main Trailer - Official Warner Bros. UK