“If you awake the beast, you will destroy us all,” a dwarf warns their leader, Thorin. And that is the gist of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The highly anticipated first trailer of the pre-Lord of the Rings second instalment been released, and it looks as action-packed as expected.

Following the success of the first The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the upcoming feature brings back familiar faces from both the first film and the LOTR world.

Martin Freeman reprises his role as the titular hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who goes into an “adventure” with a company of dwarves seeking to recapture their kingdom from the dragon Smaug. Ian McKellen and Richard Armitage also return as Gandalf the Grey and Thorin Oakenshield, respectively. And yes, the rest of the dwarves are all present and complete.

As was previously announced, Orlando Bloom, who played elven prince Legolas in the LOTR trilogy, reprises his role in the film, although his character does not appear in the original J.R.R. Tolkien book.

Another addition to the film is the female elf Tauriel, played by “Lost” star Evangeline Lilly. Tauriel does not appear in any of Tolkien’s books, and was just specifically created by director/writer Peter Jackson to join the all-male cast.

Smaug, voiced by “Sherlock Holmes” star Benedict Cumberbatch, doesn’t make any other sound apart from heavy breathing in the first trailer. Doesn’t really matter, though, since anyone who watches his BBC series and the latest “Star Trek Into Darkness” film already knows how his voice sounds like.

The first film grossed over $1 billion when it was released last year, although critics were not overly fond of it. It remains unseen if the next instalment would surpass the box office gross and the critical reception.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be released on Dec 13, 2013.