The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Will Feature the Franchise’s First Female Protagonist

The Lord of the Rings will be making its theatrical anime debut later this year, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will break more ground by being the first in the franchise to feature a female protagonist! The Lord of the Rings is gearing up for a massive comeback with all sorts of new projects now in the works, but the most intriguing new release is a brand new anime feature film making its way to theaters later this year. Taking on a small story from the original canon, we’ll soon get to see a full war break out. 

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will tell a story that takes place nearly 200 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings films, and will focus on a young woman named Hèra (voiced by Gaia Wise) and will be the first film in the franchise to do so with a female protagonist at the center. As detailed during the film’s panel during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this year (reported by The Wrap), the film will then explore a familial drama that explodes into a much larger conflict. 

What Is LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim? 

As revealed during the Annecy 2024 panel, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be releasing in theaters on December 13th. Currently clocking in at two hours and 30 minutes, the new film is directed by Kenji Kamiyama for New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation with animation production from Sola Entertainment. Based on characters originally crafted by J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Sam Register, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood and Toby Emmerich serve as executive producers. The script comes from Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou. 

Gaia Wise stars as Hèra, who rejects marrying Wulf (voiced by Luke Pasqualino), and leads to a fight between her father Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox) and Wulf’s father Freca (voiced by Shaun Dooley). Helm becomes the eventual namesake for Helm’s Deep, and the film teases that this all leads to a conflict where Helm must defend his land against an army of Dunlendings. 

With Hèra as the main protagonist for the new film, the film even went as far to give the character a name as since this story was based off a small section in J.R.R. Tolkein’s appendices, so there’s still much more that fans will likely see develop as we get closer to The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim‘s release date. 

via The Wrap