Decades before Peter Jackson’s live-action The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Ralph Bakshi crafted the epic in striking animation. (Rotoscope is cool, huh?) Now, a new project from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. brings JRR Tolkien’s sprawling tale back to animated form. And this time, they’re going anime. This journey into Middle-earth will The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrimprovided by filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama. And now we finally have our first look images showing us what The War of Rohirrim will look like. In addition, the first voice cast for The Lord of the Rings anime has been revealed, along with more story details, concept art for the film, and the film’s release date. It’s even been announced that the story will be narrated by Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan.
Here’s our first look at the art of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
We finally know what The Lord of the Rings: The Rohirrim War will look like. Four first look images of this anime style The Lord of the Rings film have been released.
The images show the protagonist Hera, the antagonist Wulf, and the legendary king of Rohan Helm Hammerhand and his family, Hera, Haleth, and Hama.
Click to view gallery
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Summary and stars
Miranda Otto reprises her role as Éowyn in The War of the Rohirrim. She serves as the narrator of the film as she tells the story of Rohan’s history. In addition to Otto, Brian Cox, Gaia Wise and Luke Pasqualino have been cast as the lead roles in the Lord of the Rings anime. Cox will voice the protagonist Helm Hammerhand. Wise will voice his daughter Hera. And Pasqualino will voice Wulf, the supposed antagonist.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rohirrim War Short content
A press release describes the new film as an exploration of “the untold story behind the fortress of Helm’s Deep.” The material adds that this film will “explore the history of the history of Helm’s Deep.”[e] in the life and bloody times of one of Middle-earth’s most legendary figures; the mighty king of Rohan – Helm Hammerhand.” And a new synopsis further shares that this Lord of the Rings anime will take place 183 before the events revealed in The Lord of the Rings movies.
The anime film’s description states: “The story takes place 183 years before the events captured in the original trilogy of films.The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim“chronicles the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking revenge for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand at the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg – a mighty fortress that will come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Helm’s daughter, Héra, finds herself in an increasingly desperate situation and must muster the will to lead a resistance against a deadly enemy bent on their total destruction.”
Concept art for the anime film ‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM’.
Set 183 years before the events of the original LOTR trilogy, the film tells the bloody story behind Helm’s Deep. photo.twitter.com/39zWom08ra
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 15, 2022
DeadlineThe article also reveals more of The War of the Rohirrim‘s plot. It notes that “A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking revenge for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand at the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg – a mighty fortress later known as Helm’s Deep. Hera, Helm’s daughter, finds herself in an increasingly desperate situation and must muster the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy who intends to destroy them utterly.”
More about The Lord of the Rings: The Rohirrim War
Director Kamiyama shares this The Lord of the Rings anime movie, “This is the story of the most powerful king in Rohan’s history, one who defeated his enemies with his bare fists. Why did his lineage have to end with him? I think there is a lesson in arrogance in it and also in the need for responsibility and awareness of their power. We live in an age where we are once again confronted with the reality of war all over the world. What is power then? What is the responsibility of those who have it? It is something they must think about by thinking together with those who do not.”
Of Helm’s daughter Hèra, producer Philippa Boyens notes: “In the appendices that the story is drawn from, we get these quite interestingly drawn male characters, and then we get this young female character who is never named – and I thought that was really interesting. We know that Helm has a daughter, and we know that she was central to the conflict that was happening. But I, and particularly screenwriter Phoebe Gittins, were drawn to her. We could feel the weight of being this unnamed daughter, which immediately piqued our interest: who was she? How was she living?”
Who is the antagonist after all? The Lord of the Rings: The Rohirrim WarWulf, who “leads the armies of Dunlending against Helm’s kingdom.” Boyens shares, “We have an exceptionally great antagonist in this story. He’s one of my favorite antagonists that I’ve written in all the films that I’ve worked on.” Wulf is not a sorcerer or a powerful being, instead he’s just a human in The Lord of the Rings world. And Boyens reveals, “He speaks so directly to a lot of the crises that we’re facing today. He’s a really fascinating character and also exciting. You don’t know what he’s going to do, and some of the choices he makes are just breathtaking in a good way.”
Conceptual art by The Lord of the Rings Anime movie
The concept art below from Weta Workshop certainly hints at those blood-soaked times. That Oliphaunt doesn’t look like he’s around for a good cuddle.
Helm, the ninth king of Rohan, was famously defeated – but not killed – at the Crossings of Isen. He would survive only one more year, however, after a long siege alongside his brother. Despite his defeat, Helm retained a ferocious reputation; it was even thought that he lived on in some form after the official decree of his death. You can read the rest of The War of the Rohirrim‘s concept art below.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Director and other actors
The War of Rohirrim‘s director, Kamiyama, has been bringing color and story to the anime world since the 1980s. Among his most notable credits are several Ghost in the shell series, as well as the 2019 Ultraman show.
The film also stars Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna and Janine Duvitski.
Peter Jackson will serve as executive producer on the film.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Date of publication
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will hit theaters on December 13, 2024. Currently, Warner Bros. Rohirrim as a standalone story; as such, we wouldn’t necessarily expect a trilogy to come out of this project. But given that The Hobbit originally it was only going to be one film, we might not want to rule anything out.
Originally published June 10, 2021 with reporting by M. Arbeiter.
