With Comic-Con 2014 just a few days away, which will offer fans a sneak peek at The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies, Warner Bros. has released two new photos featuring Gandalf (Ian McKellen) interacting with the elf king Thranduil (Lee Pace), and another with the wizard getting ready for battle alongside Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans). Take a look, then read on for what writer/producer Philippa Boyens has to say about director Peter Jackson's final Middle Earth adventure.

The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies Photo 1
The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies Photo 2

Back in April, Warner Bros. announced that this final adventure was changing from The Hobbit: There and Back Again to The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies, which hints that this last Middle Earth tale will be more action-packed that its predecessors. Philippa Boyens revealed that fans don't remember what happens at the end of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, which is much more intense than some may believe.

"People tend to forget what happens at the end of The Hobbit. They think of this little children's book. The rest of the story needs to be told, and it's pretty intense stuff."

Last year's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ended with the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) getting ready to destroy Lake Town, which takes its toll on Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins.

"It's very much a 'shock and awe' by the enemy, and it's pretty devastating."

The writer-producer adds that the finale will lead into the events portrayed in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as Gandalf and the White Council head to Dol Guldur to try and defeat Smaug once and for all.

"It's all coming full circle. It's the ordinary, everyday folk, as Gandalf says in the first film, those are the ones who keep the darkness at bay. That is what you come to understand is more important than gold and that treasure in the mountain."

Stay tuned for more details regarding The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies during Comic-Con 2014 later this week.