The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an American-Japanese animated epic fantasy film directed by Kenji Kamiyama from a screenplay by the writing teams of Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, and Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, based on a story told in the appendices of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and New Line Cinema with animation production by Sola Entertainment. The film stars Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto, Laurence Ubong Williams and Shaun Dooley. The War of the Rohirrim is set 183 years before Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and tells the story of Helm Hammerhand (Cox), a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings.
The film was announced in June 2021 and development was fast-tracked to prevent New Line from losing the film adaptation rights for Tolkien's novels. Kamiyama was involved by then, as were producer Philippa Boyens — who co-wrote the Lord of the Rings film trilogy — and writers Addiss and Matthews. Gittins and Papageorgiou re-wrote the script, which is based on details in the appendicesof The Lord of the Rings covering the history of Rohan's rulers. They chose to focus on Helm's unnamed daughter, whom they called Hèra (Wise) for the film. Sola Entertainment provided the traditional 2D animation, taking visual inspiration from Jackson's films. The cast was revealed in June 2022, including Otto reprising her role as Éowyn from the film trilogy. Jackson and The Lord of the Rings film trilogy co-writer Fran Walsh were being credited as executive producers by June 2024.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2024, by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Premise[]
Set 183 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,[1] The War of the Rohirrim tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, a legendary King of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings. Helm goes on to become the namesake for the stronghold of Helm's Deep.[2]
Cast[]
- Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand: The hot-tempered king of Rohan who attempts to protect his people. Director Kenji Kamiyama was intrigued by the story of Helm's lineage ending, seeing it as a lesson about responsibility and power.[3]
- Gaia Wise as Hera: The tomboy-ish daughter of Helm who helps defend their people. Wise felt the character was closer to the female heroes from Hayao Miyazaki's anime films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) than Éowyn and Arwen, the female heroes in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. While those characters are "fully formed women", Wise said Hèra was rebellious and complicated.[3]
- Luke Pasqualino as Wulf: The ruthless leader of the Dunlendings who seeks revenge against Rohan for the death of his father. Unlike previous antagonists in the franchise, Wulf is just a human rather than an evil wizard or dark lord. Producer Philippa Boyens felt this made him more interesting and more dangerous, and said the character was relevant to "a lot of the crises that we're facing today".[3]
- Miranda Otto as Éowyn: A future shieldmaiden of Rohan who narrates the film. Otto reprises her role from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film series (2001–2003).[3]
- Laurence Ubong Williams as Fréaláf Hildeson: Helm's nephew and successor to the throne of Rohan.[3]
- Shaun Dooley as Freca: Wulf's father, a Dunlending lord with Rohirric blood who attempts to claim the throne.[3]
Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, and Janine Duvitski have been cast in undisclosed roles.[3]
Production[]
Development[]
During 20th anniversary celebrations for the release of the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001),[4] film studio New Line Cinema announced in June 2021 that it was fast-tracking development of an anime prequel film with Warner Bros. Animation.[5] Titled The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, the film is set 183 years before the events of The Two Towers and tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, who is explored in the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novel and is the namesake for the fortress Helm's Deep seen in The Two Towers. Kenji Kamiyama and Joseph Chou were set to direct and produce the film, respectively, after doing the same for Warner Bros.' anime television series Blade Runner: Black Lotus, with Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews writing the screenplay.[4] The film was intended to be connected to the narrative of the film trilogy, with the trilogy's co-writer, Philippa Boyens, consulting on the prequel.[5] The trilogy's director, Peter Jackson, and other co-writer, Fran Walsh, were not involved with the project.[4]
By February 2022, the script was being written by Phoebe Gittins, Boyens' daughter, and her writing partner Arty Papageorgiou, based on a story by Addiss and Matthews.[6] Richard Taylor, the creative director of special effects company Wētā Workshop, and illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe also joined the film's creative team after all working on the live-action trilogy.[7][8]
Casting[]
Voice casting for the film had begun by the time of its announcement in June 2021,[5] and announcements were expected soon after February 2022.[7] In June, Brian Cox was revealed to be voicing Helm, with Miranda Otto reprising her role of Éowyn from the live-action films to serve as the narrator. Also revealed to be cast in the film were Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, and Janine Duvitski.[8]
Animation[]
Sola Entertainment had begun work on the animation for the film by the time of its announcement in June 2021, and it will be its first production using hand-drawn animation in a style reminiscent of traditional anime productions. The film draws its visual inspiration from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.[5][7]
Marketing[]
A first look at concept art from the film, showing the influence of the live-action trilogy on its visuals, was revealed in February 2022.[9] In April 2023, Warner Bros. announced that a behind-the-scenes preview for the film would be shown at the Annecy Film Festival in June.[10]
Release[]
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be released on December 13, 2024, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was previously scheduled for April 12, 2024, but was delayed to its current date due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[11][12]
Videos[]
External links[]
References[]
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