6. New Characters: Bard The Bowman
Let me just take a moment to appreciate all the fine blokes that the Desolation of Smaug is bringing together. As if Richard Armitage, Martin Freeman, Aidan Turner, Lee Pace and Orlando Bloom weren't enough, they've also got the wonderful Luke Evans to play Bard the Bowman. How much man-candy can one person ask for? However, further than rugged good looks we can get excited about Bard the Bowman and the Laketown folk, not least because they're the ones suffering from an unfortunate dragon-infestation. And, aside from the fact that we're going to see Steven Fry as the Master of Laketown (how did I forget his crooked-nosed loveliness from the above list?), Bard the Bowman is going to bring the same rugged badassdom to the film that Aragorn brought to LOTR. He's world-weary, grim-faced and can talk to birds. What's not to love? And without spoiling it for anyone who's not read the books, lets just say his bowmanship puts Legolas to shame...