It is hard to believe that the trilogy of Hobbit movies has come to an end. For three Christmases in a row fans flocked to theatres to see Peter Jackson’s vision for J.R.R. Tolkien’s story. For the actors from the films, such as Graham McTavish who played Dwalin, it is even more surreal.

"It has been an incredible journey that started for me in May 2010! To go through that whole experience of getting the job and the training, and two and a half years of filming, and the premiers – for it to be over, to be honest with you, I think I am in a bit of a state of denial about it. One of the nice things about all these conventions is it allows you to keep the experience going. It is a nice opportunity for us to get together as a little gang and hang out. I will probably be in a wheelchair in my 80s still saying Yes, I was in The Hobbit. It has been a great thing for us to have done for sure."

McTavish is excited to be appearing at the 2015 Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo.

"All of the ones I have been to so far, it is very rare in life that you get to be in a place with so many people that are so happy to be there. It is a very warm embrace that you get from people at these things. I am always struck by how many people are dressed as the dwarves that come to visit, and so many of them are women. I was shocked at first when I began to realize, they are so good at it you don’t realize they are women until they speak. That has been nice. It is a loyal group of people the Hobbit and Outlander fans; they are very passionate and travel a long way to see you, which is nice. I am very much looking forward to it. It is a great opportunity to get together with people you may not have seen in awhile and immerse yourself in a place that – in my case, other than arriving there in 1980 to be picked up by my sister once – I have never been too. It is fantastic because all those people are there for one reason: to have a great time. Who can fault that?"

With a knowledgeable audience attending, many people will know McTavish not only from The Hobbit and his current TV show Outlander, but also shows like 24 and Prison Break, as well as animated voice work for shows like The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and game work like the Call of Duty series.

"The video game stuff for sure, I meet a lot of people from that subculture of gaming, which is growing all the time and becoming more sophisticated. I think, still, it is in its infancy compared to what it will be like. Even in the time I have been doing it, the most recent game is The Order 1886. The facial and motion capture they have done on that – compared to even five years earlier – there is no comparison. It is a fast growing industry and something I am excited to be a part of. Not something I planned at all, but happy to be involved in it."

Doing voice work, where you can literally be in your pyjamas, is quite different from the physical transformation he had to go through to play Dwalin in The Hobbit films.

"I do like challenges and physical challenges, and the great challenge of The Hobbit was I had to get myself into the best shape I had ever been. I devoted three months before I went to New Zealand, and then another three months while I was there, to get into really good shape for the work, because I knew it was going to be so demanding. I’ve just done a boxing movie in Philadelphia. I had never had any involvement in the world of boxing, and I did a lot of research and worked with a lot of boxers, and did training with them so I would understand that world. That is one of the joys and benefits of the work; that you get to dip into worlds you have never encountered before. Same with Outlander and 18th Century Scotland. I love the research and immersing yourself in the work."

With the success of shows like Outlander and Game of Thrones there is a big demand for historical and medieval shows on TV.

"There is one aspect of it, which is kind of the binge viewing of these shows. I do it myself: I buy a box set of a DVD and I just sit down and watch it over a couple of days. People really enjoy that. Speaking of the popularity of Outlander I think it occupies quite an unusual place in television at the moment, in that it portrays romance. It is unashamedly romantic at its heart. The relationship between Jamie and Claire is a throwback to the 19th Century literature of Thomas Hardy, the Brontes or Jane Austin. The landscape of television at the moment, mostly, is... quite bleak and hopeless view of humanity. I think this alternative resonates with people."

So what would McTavish do if he, like Claire Randall in Outlander, was suddenly thrust 200 years into the past?

"That is a very good question. The truth of it is, if one of us was sent back 200 years, we wouldn’t last long. Your immunity wouldn’t be able to cope with the diseases you would encounter and it would be very difficult to survive. Putting that aside, I would find it absolutely fascinating! It would be amazing – even just for a day I would love it! One thing you would notice is that people are more similar than you imagine them to be over thousands of years. You would have a great deal [more] in common than you would imagine. Equally, there would be things that would surprise you so completely that we aren’t even aware of historically. Suddenly you would go Oh my god; they do that?! That would be very interesting."