A new look at the history of Middle-earth is releasing very soon in the form of an anime under the title The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.
The world of The Lord of the Rings was so exquisitely made by the author J.R.R. Tolkien that people are still exploring new things to dig into and discuss. The same goes for filmmakers working away on finding ways to adapt more of Tokien’s work. The last example would be Amazon’s TV series The Rings of Power. The TV series, although receiving mixed reactions from the viewers and fans, is going to have a long-playing future.
By combining the efforts of New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Animation, and Sola Entertainment, the anime is going to come on big screens really soon. Read on to find out more about the upcoming animated film, the plot, the cast, and all the pre-release information.
How does War of the Rohirrim fit into The Lord of the Rings?
Like The Rings of Power, The War of Rohirrim will be somewhat of a prequel to Jackson’s trilogy. Although, the anime will have a plot that is very loosely related to Jackson’s films. Set 183 years before the events narrated in Peter Jackson’s trilogy, the anime will not focus on the attributes that were majorly explored in The Lord of the Rings or even The Rings of Power. It will tell the story of people who lived in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg, a fortress that appears in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). Unlike the LOTR trilogy, The Hobbit, and even The Rings of Power, the anime’s main character will be of a human race.
The array of bespoke filmmakers will merge their efforts to work together on bringing together the appendices written by Tolkien on screen.
Who is making The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim?
The anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim promises to be authentic to the original. Many members of the original team who were involved in The Lord of the Rings are taking part in the production of the anime.
The executive producer of the upcoming anime is no other than Philippa Boyens, one of the Oscar-winning screenwriters for The Lord of the Rings. Her daughter Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou will join the team. The duo will write the screenplay based on a script from Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. As for the visuals, Richard Taylor and Alan Lee (both previously involved in LOTR) will be responsible for them. The lineup will form a gilded assembly of awarded creators.
Sola Entertainment, an anime studio, is what will bring novelty to the project. Kenji Kamiyama, the director, and producer Joseph Chou both worked together on the TV series Blade Runner: Black Lotus, having experience in making anime features.
How the creative liberties that entail drawing the plot from between the lines will turn out, we will find out very soon. For now, let’s see what the plot of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is promising to be like.
Plot of The War of the Rohirrim
Helm Hammerhand, the ninth king of Rohan and the last of its first line of King, is a brave warrior whose fate is to protect and guide his people. The Rohirrims are going through tough times: they are torn between wars and squabbles with the tribe of wild men called the Dunlending). The Dunlendings were exiled to the borders of Rohan by the Rohirrim and now crave revenge after their leader was killed by King Helm.
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The thing is that the Dunlending leader and landowner, Freca, bearer of the Rohirrim blood, wanted to secure his position by marrying his Wulf off to King Helm’s daughter Hera. After he gets killed, the Wildmen of Dunlend instigate an attack on Rohan, led by the vengeful Wulf.
Defeated, the King seeks sanctuary in what we will see called Helm’s Deep in The Lord of the Rings. This is where his daughter Hera comes to the front. Her role was expanded from a character on the sidelines of Tolkien’s appendices to a whole integral female lead. Hera will have a mission to gather her people and lead the rebellion against their enemies.
The War of the Rohirrim characters and who will voice them
Helm Hammerhand – Brian Cox
Brian Cox is an award-winning Scottish actor, very well-known as Logan Roy from Succession (2018-2023). Cox received training as a Shakespearean actor and starred in a number of productions with the Royal National Theatre in London. In his career breakthrough film, Manhunter (1986), he was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lecter on the screen.
In The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim Cox will be the voice of Helm Hammerhand.
Hera – Gaia Wise
Gaia Wise is a 23-year-old English actress, a daughter to prolific actors Emma Thompson (Harry Potter) and Greg Wise (Sense and Sensibility). Gaia Wise has played in A Walk in the Woods (2015) alongside her mother, and Last Chance Harvey (2008). According to IMDb, Gaia has four more upcoming projects apart from The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim.
In the anime about Middle-earth, Wise is going to voice the role of Hera, Helm’s daughter and the leader of the resistance against the enemies.
Eowyn / The Narrator – Miranda Otto
Eowyn’s name is already known via The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She is a noblewoman, and a warrior, of Rohan, who defeated the Witch-King in the last LOTR movie and delivered the famous line “I am no man”, in retort to the Witch-King claiming no man would kill him.
Miranda Otto will reprise her role as Eowyn in the anime. Although, she will not have an on-screen character. Eowyn will narrate the story of the earlier years of Rohan.
Miranda Otto is an Australian actress. Apart from LOTR, Otto is also known for The Thin Red Line (1998) and War of the Worlds (2005).
Luke Pasqualino – Wulf
Luke Pasqualino is widely recognized as Freddie from a British TV series Skins (2007-2013) and Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012). His latest works include Netflix’s Shadow and Bone (2021 – present) and Shantaram (2022).
In The War of the Rohirrim, Pasqualino will voice Wulf, a vengeful son of the dead Dunlending leader.
Others in the voice cast include:
- Laurence Ubong Williams as Fréaláf Hildeson
- Shaun Dooley as Freca the Dunlending
- Lorraine Ashbourne
- Yazdan Qafouri
- Michael Wildman
- Jude Akuwudike
- Janine Duvitski
- Bilal Hasna
- Laurence Ubong Williams
- Benjamin Wainwright
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – release date
Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich promised in an interview The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be “an epic portrayal unlike anything audiences have ever seen”.
Warner Bros. also confirmed the release date. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will come on big screens on April 12, 2024. This was a decision made by Warner Bros. themselves to not send the anime film straight to streaming services. Nevertheless, after the War of the Rohirrim stops showing in cinemas, it will be available to watch at home on Max.
Moreover, the production company of the War of the Rohirrim gave an exclusive first look at the movie during the Annecy Film Festival. Although there is no trailer just yet, with everything that’s been revealed lately, there is speculation that Warner Bros. will release a trailer sometime in Fall 2023.
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