Warner Bros hasn’t been shy regarding its plans to further flesh out The Lord of The Rings’ universe. Recently, Amazon’s The Lord of The Rings: Rings of Power brought its second season to a close, continuing to follow the prequel story that explores the characters of Galadriel, Sauron, and Elrond. In a surprising twist, a new prequel movie is on the way for this winter in The Lord of The Rings: The War of The Rohirrim which will be the franchise’s first anime film. In a recent interview, a creator of the franchise talked the series’ anime future.
If you’re unfamiliar with The Lord of The Rings: The War of The Rohirrim, the anime movie is set to hit North American theaters on December 13th this winter. Taking place one hundred and eighty-three years before the events of The Lord of The Rings trilogy, the anime prequel explores the story of Helm Hammerhand and his family as they defend the now legendary locale. For this first anime film in the land of Middle Earth, Warner Bros has teamed up with Sola Entertainment, the production house that has made a name for itself with anime projects including Tower of God, The God of High School, Ninja Kamui, Shenmue: The Animation, and Rick And Morty: The Anime.
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The Lord of The Rings’ Anime Future
Screenwriter Philippa Boyens, who was responsible for the first three Lord of The Rings movies along with The Hobbit trilogy, is returning for The Lord of the Rings: The War of The Rohirrim. On top of her time with Middle Earth, Boyens also had a hand in writing The Lovely Bones, Mortal Engines, and 2005’s King Kong. In an interview with outlet Empire, the screenwriter confirmed that they are already thinking of another anime project for the franchise, but it’s going to come down to The War of The Rohirrim’s success.
Boyens states that the upcoming The Hunt For Gollum film might receive a follow-up in the form of an anime, “We have an absolute banger of a second film that would just be incredible as an anime, but let’s see if there’s an appetite for it.” While discussing the upcoming live-action movie focusing on Andy Serkis’ Gollum, the screenwriter confirmed it was always meant to be one movie, “I can tell you definitively it isn’t two films! That was a genuine misunderstanding that happened because we’ve begun to work, conceptually, on two different live-action films. The first being The Hunt For Gollum, the second one still to be confirmed.”
An Anime Gollum?
If you want to see Gollum in an animated format, you don’t have to wait for years to see if The War of The Rohirrim is a success. In 1977, animation studio Rankin/Bass released an animated movie for The Hobbit, following the journey of Bilbo Baggins long before Warner Bros released the trilogy of live-action films that did the same. While this take does focus on Bilbo’s unfortunate first meeting with Gollum, this is a far different-looking beast than the one we saw Andy Serkis portray. Following the success of this initial animated outing, a Lord of The Rings animated movie was released the following year in 1978.
Ironically enough, the Gollum of The Lord of The Rings’ animated movie looked far more like Andy Serkis’ iteration than The Hobbit’s. Considering the franchise’s long history in the animation world, it makes sense that anime would be a perfect fit for Middle Earth.
Want to stay updated on The Lord of The Rings’ place in the anime world? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on the The War of The Rohirrim and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.
