In Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which actor voices the dragon Smaug?

Benedict Cumberbatch voices the dragon Smaug in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Cumberbatch also provided the performance-capture basis for Smaug’s movements and played the Necromancer, the mysterious figure later identified as Sauron. Smaug is the ancient dragon who occupies the Lonely Mountain and guards the treasure of the lost Dwarven kingdom of Erebor.

The film, released in 2013, ends with Bilbo Baggins and the company of Dwarves awakening Smaug. The dragon’s attack on Lake-town becomes a major event in the final Hobbit film.

Martin Freeman plays Bilbo, Richard Armitage plays Thorin Oakenshield, and Andy Serkis plays Gollum in the wider Middle-earth films. None of those actors voices Smaug, despite their prominent connections to Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations.