The Battle of the Five Armies Cast: Who Actually Stayed for the Long Haul

Peter Jackson's final trip to Middle-earth was a mess. Let's just be honest about that up front. By the time The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies hit theaters in 2014, the production had ballooned from a modest two-part adaptation into this sprawling, CGI-heavy trilogy that seemed to test the patience of even the most hardcore Tolkien fans. But despite the digital clutter and the questionable physics of Legolas jumping on falling bricks, the Battle of the Five Armies cast remains one of the most impressive assemblies of talent ever put on a New Zealand film set.

It's weird. You have these massive, classically trained actors like Ian McKellen and Cate Blanchett sharing scenes with a guy in a motion-capture suit playing a dragon, yet the performances are what actually ground the film.

The Core Company: Martin Freeman and the Dwarves

Martin Freeman was always the secret weapon. Without his specific brand of exasperated, suburban English energy, the movie would have collapsed under its own weight. Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins spends a lot of this third film just looking horrified, which, frankly, is exactly how the audience feels when Thorin Oakenshield starts losing his mind.

Richard Armitage as Thorin is probably the most underrated part of the entire trilogy. In The Battle of the Five Armies, he has to play "Dragon Sickness," which is basically just greed acting as a literal neurotoxin. Armitage brings a Shakespearean heaviness to it. He isn't just a guy who wants gold; he’s a tragic figure whose ancestors' legacy is crushing him. When you look at the Battle of the Five Armies cast, Armitage is the one doing the heavy emotional lifting while everyone else is swinging swords at green screens.

The Dwarves themselves—the "Company of Thorin"—get a bit of a raw deal in this final installment. In the first movie, we got to know Balin (Ken Stott) and Dwalin (Graham McTavish). By the third movie, guys like Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur are basically just background texture. It’s a shame. James Nesbitt (Bofur) is a fantastic actor who barely gets a line in the theatrical cut of the finale.

The Tragedy of Kili and Fili

Aidan Turner and Dean O'Gorman played the "young, hot" dwarves, Kili and Fili. Their deaths in the book are a brief, sad sentence. In the movie, Jackson stretches it out into this grand, operatic tragedy. Turner, in particular, had to carry that much-maligned romance subplot with Evangeline Lilly’s Tauriel. Whether you liked that addition or not, Turner’s commitment to the bit was undeniable. He treated a dwarf-elf romance with the same gravity you'd expect from Romeo and Juliet.

The Heavy Hitters: McKellen, Lee, and the White Council

Seeing the White Council in action was the ultimate fan service. We're talking about a cast list that includes:

• Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey
• Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
• Christopher Lee as Saruman
• Hugo Weaving as Elrond

This is basically the Mount Rushmore of acting.

Christopher Lee was in his 90s when they filmed this. Knowing that this was his final turn as Saruman adds a layer of poignancy to his scenes at Dol Guldur. He didn't even travel to New Zealand for this one; he filmed his parts in London because he was too frail for the long-haul flight. You can’t tell. The magic of editing and body doubles makes him look like a powerhouse.

And then there's Cate Blanchett. She has this ability to look like she’s vibrating on a different frequency than everyone else. When Galadriel banishes Sauron, it’s one of the few moments where the CGI actually enhances the performance rather than distracting from it.

The Villains and the Digital Magic

Benedict Cumberbatch technically leads the villainous side of the Battle of the Five Armies cast, but he’s barely in the movie. Smaug dies within the first ten minutes. It’s a bold choice to kill off your best villain that early, but Cumberbatch’s voice work as the Necromancer/Sauron keeps his presence felt.

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The physical villains, like Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett) and Bolg (John Tui), were a point of contention. Bennett is a physical beast—anyone who saw him in Spartacus knows that—but his performance was largely buried under layers of CGI. It’s a bit of a letdown. You have Crixus himself on set, and you turn him into a digital cartoon? It’s one of those "what if" scenarios that still bugs fans.

The Lake-town Contingent

Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman is the most "human" part of the film. He’s the guy just trying to keep his kids alive while dragons burn his house down and dwarves argue over rocks. Evans brings a rugged, blue-collar hero energy that contrasts well with the ethereal elves and the obsessive dwarves.

Then there’s Ryan Gage as Alfrid Lickspittle.
Look.
Every movie needs a sniveling coward, but Alfrid gets so much screen time. More than some of the dwarves! Gage plays it perfectly—you absolutely loathe the character—but his prominence in the final cut is one of those pacing decisions that people still debate on Reddit today.

The Elven Influence

Lee Pace as Thranduil is a masterclass in "arrogant eyebrows." He plays the Elvenking with this icy, detached cruelty that makes you wonder if he’s actually a villain. Pace has stated in interviews that he viewed Thranduil as someone who has lived too long and seen too much death, which explains why he’s so hesitant to help the people of Lake-town.

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And, of course, Orlando Bloom returned as Legolas. It’s a bit of a continuity headache since he looks older here than he does in The Lord of the Rings (which takes place decades later), but Bloom hasn't lost his touch with the bow. Evangeline Lilly, as the non-canonical Tauriel, had the impossible task of fitting into a world where her character didn't exist in the source material. She handled it with grace, even if the script forced her into a love triangle nobody really asked for.

Why the Casting Worked Despite the Flaws

The brilliance of the Battle of the Five Armies cast is that they never winked at the camera. Even when the plot got ridiculous—like a giant elk head-butting orcs—the actors played it straight.

Billy Connolly’s brief appearance as Dain Ironfoot is a highlight. He was dealing with the early stages of Parkinson’s and prostate cancer during filming, yet he came out and gave this foul-mouthed, energetic performance that injected some much-needed life into the final battle. He was CGI-enhanced for the combat, but that voice is unmistakably the Big Yin.

Realities of the New Zealand Set

Working on these films wasn't just a job; it was a years-long residency. Peter Jackson famously took over the director's chair late in the game after Guillermo del Toro left, meaning the cast was often working with scripts that were being written the night before.

• Martin Freeman often had to fly back and forth to the UK to film Sherlock.
• The "Scale Doubles" worked just as hard as the main cast, ensuring the heights looked right in every shot.
• Long hours in the makeup chair were the norm, especially for the dwarves who had to deal with prosthetic sweat and skin irritation for months on end.

Actionable Takeaways for Movie Buffs

If you're planning a rewatch or diving into the lore of the Battle of the Five Armies cast, here is how to get the most out of the experience:

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1. Watch the Extended Edition: It’s not just "more movie." It actually gives characters like Bofur and the other dwarves actual moments of resolution. The R-rated chariot sequence is also some of the best action in the trilogy.
2. Look for the Cameos: Peter Jackson’s children have appeared in every Middle-earth film. Keep an eye out during the Lake-town sequences.
3. Check the Credits: Pay attention to the song "The Last Goodbye" by Billy Boyd. Boyd played Pippin in the original trilogy, and having him sing the farewell to the franchise was a stroke of casting genius that tied both trilogies together.
4. Follow the Dwarves' Careers: Many of the dwarf actors, like Graham McTavish (Outlander, House of the Dragon) and Richard Armitage (The Stranger), have gone on to do incredible work. It’s fun to see "Dwalin" without the mohawk and tattoos.

The film might be polarizing, but the ensemble remains a high-water mark for fantasy cinema. They took a thin book and a chaotic production and turned it into a billion-dollar finale that, for all its digital excess, still had a beating heart. That heart was provided by a group of actors who spent years in the mud and the prosthetics to bring Tolkien’s world to life one last time.