Richard Armitage has spoken exclusively to Total Film about his role in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit.

We recently sat down with the British actor to talk about his role as dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the two-part Tolkien epic, and he told us: “There’s going to be quite a lot more humour.

“The book is so focused on the dwarves, so I think it’s a chance for Peter [Jackson] and Fran [Walsh] to really look at that whole race in more detail, their heritage and what they’re like as characters.”

The dwarves aren’t just there as comic relief though, as Armitage has learnt while wielding the Orcrist, Thorin’s legendary goblin sword.

“It’s bloody heavy!” he told us. “But it’s absolutely beautiful to look at. Every time they bring something new out everyone gasps. The armour that the dwarves emerge from the mountain wearing at the end of the film will be the armour of all armour.”

Tolkien fan Armitage said that he’s in his element shooting in New Zealand: “There was a scene in The Lord Of The Rings where they find the stone trolls, and they’re identical in The Hobbit.

“I love those moments, when you link into the world of the film that you’ve seen before.”

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens on 14 December 2012.

For more from Richard Armitage, get the new issue of Total Film Magazine, which hits newsstands on Thursday 7 July.

Read more: Richard Armitage talks The Hobbit | TotalFilm.com