AS RICHARD Armitage prepares to farewell the biggest role of his movie career so far, there’s little in the way of end of an era histrionics coming from the tall, dashing Englishman.

“God no,” says Armitage, who has been the breakout star of The Hobbittrilogy.

“The narrative that Peter Jackson has put into The Battle of the Five Armies, it stands alone as a film. Rather than just finishing off the story, it’s like a whole new adventure all of its own. I’m very excited about it.”

Had you met the graduate of British TV dramas such asCold Feet, Robin Hood, Spooksand Strike Back at the outset of his Middle-earth adventure, he would have been less excited and more daunted about the prospect of playing Thorin Oakenshield, who leads the on an epic mission to reclaim their mountain home from the dragon Smaug.

Like Thorin, he expressed feelings of inadequacy and wondered why he’d been handed such a big job. But what really had him shaking in his dwarf boots was the prospect of playing Thorin’s descent into madness in The Hobbit’s later stages, as the king of the succumbs to the paranoia and greed of “dragon sickness”.

“We were able to experiment with so many different layers and levels of Thorin’s psychological disconnection that figuring out the choices that Peter has made in his final cut is really interesting,” Armitage says.

“Seeing Thorin become very isolated in the story ... as much as it’s thrilling to see the work go that way, I’m pining for the character ’cos I don’t want him to go down that road, even though I know he must.”

Indeed, dedicated Hobbit fans who have spent two films so far putting their hopes and dreams into Thorin, may find in The Battle of the Five Armies that they no longer like their hero very much.

“There were moments when I was shocked and ashamed by what Thorin did,” Armitage agrees. “But ultimately, I knew that he would find his way back; that he had to be redeemed and rise. We realise he will have to take his men to war, he’ll have to rally his troops again and ultimately change the course of the battle that’s happening outside the mountain.

“Without that distaste for him, it’s not as satisfying to feel him finally come back.”

Having spent several years going back and forth to New Zealand shooting the trilogy, Armitage is happy to say that his last shot was a memorable one.

“It was a significant moment in Thorin’s story. Obviously I can’t tell you what that moment was, but it’s a very, very significant moment in his trajectory and deliberately so.”

Given his initial doubts, Armitage would be chuffed to know that an actor far more experienced than he — Sir Ian McKellen, the franchise’s wise old wizard Gandalf — reckons the boy done good.

“It’s not easy to play a troubled hero,” says McKellen. “You want your hero to carry the day without a care in the world and be as good looking as Richard is. But Richard carries inside Thorin a soulfulness which is necessary, which Gandalf doesn’t really know how to cope with ...

“Richard’s done very well and his reward is the absolutely leading character, the one dwarf that really sticks out.”

Armitage has quickly proven he’s no one-trilogy wonder, having a surprise hit midyear with disaster flick Into the Storm. Playing a schoolteacher running from tornadoes required a lot less time in the make-up chair, but was intense in other ways.

“I describe it as a different kind of pain: The Hobbit was hot and heavy and Into the Storm was cold and windy,” he laughs.

And try as he might to convince himself that The Hobbit hasn’t made him famous, Armitage had to concede things had changed when his first stage run in 12 years, in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, played to sold-out houses in London from June to September.

“It was quite a shock to me to see how we filled a 900 seat theatre and the people that turned up at the stage door every night. I suddenly was by, ‘Oh, people will pay to see you do stuff’. It was really nice to see that dedication.”

(Australian theatre fans can see Armitage’s performance when The Crucible screens as part of the CinemaLive program in February.)

David Wenham on Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' It's the second time David Wenham will star in 'The Crucible', which he describes as a "perfectly constructed and beautifully written" play. Courtesy: Melbourne Theatre Company

Still, the 43-year-old is quick to temper any talk of The Hobbit being his launching pad.

“If I’m honest, it’s always been a slow burn, a slow creep forward. I suppose there’s been a part of me that always wanted a fast track because I’m impatient and impetuous. But it’s just not my fate.

“People get to know me slowly and over the course of time. I’ll probably still be a newcomer when I’m 60.”

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES OPENS BOXING DAY