We may finally have our first look at Benedict Cumberbatch’s character, Smaug, from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. A photo was taken of a sculpture of a dragon which was in a Wellington, New Zealand theater that is normally reserved for Peter Jackson related film memorabilia.

This is definitely a stretch, but the folks over at TheOneRing.net have released a fan photo of a dragon sculpture that could potentially be Smaug the dragon, which will be voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The theater in which this photo was taken is supposedly “reserved for statues of characters from Peter Jackson films. They’ve had TinTin, Gandalf, Gollum etc…”

As we do get a look at Smaug’s eye and snout in the first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we can compare them to the sculptures. Feel free to make your own assumptions, but we think if this isn’t a sculpture of Smaug, it definitely shares a similar design, albeit on a smaller scale of course. Click on the photo below to take a better look:

Smaug from ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’

TheOneRing has updated their article multiple times, saying that they’re somewhat doubting the validity of this sculpture being the first look at Smaug, mostly due to the fact that the studio usually contacts them fairly quickly when images or details leak that they don’t want public yet – but what has us intrigued are the dragon’s eyes.

Sir Ian McKellen recently discussed Smaug and while he said that everyone was excited, he also said, “none of us have seen the finished Smaug yet, but I saw Benedict Cumberbatch’s screen test, and it was very impressive.” We think the sculpture’s brow is very similar to the one seen in the first film, but the snout in the picture is definitely more bird-like than what is seen in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. We’ll make sure to keep fans up to date on any Smaug leaks, as we’re also curious how The Hobbit’s historic dragon will turn out on screen.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug release date is set for December 13, 2013. So far we’ve only seen one official still from the film, though Jackson hosted a first look in March.