The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Goes Behind the Scenes in New Promo: Watch

Set to release on December 13th, the latest installment in the Lord of the Rings film franchise, The War of the Rohirrim, is a fully animated feature that takes place during the reign of Helm Hammerhand, 183 years prior to the events of the original The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The star-studded voice cast features the talents of Brian Cox as Rohan; Gaia Wise as Héra, the daughter of Helm and main protagonist of the film; Miranda Otto as Éowyn, and Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, the leader of the Dunlendings. Warner Bros. recently uploaded a new video to their YouTube channel to promote the film and show off some of the voice performances audiences can expect when the film releases.

Originally announced in June 2021 during the 20th-anniversary celebration of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, New Line Cinema announced that the Lord of the Rings prequel film would be a feature-length anime project alongside Warner Bros. Animation. The War of the Rohirrim is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, best known for his previous work on Jin-Roh, Blood: The Last Vampire, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

[RELATED: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Trailer Released]

The War of the Rohorrim Is a Labor of Love From Everyone Involved in the Filmmaking Process

Boyens describes The War of the Rohorrim as being a story about the wreckages of war, and that the producers of the film wanted to tell a story that wouldn’t cause any potential conflicts with the story of Sauron and the One Ring. Originally, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews were brought on to handle the initial script for the film, but during COVID-19, Boyens ended up reaching out to her daughter, Phoebe Gittins and her writing partner, Arty Papageorgiou, to re-write much of the original screenplay. With fresh eyes on the material, the writing duo was able to work closely with the director to truly adapt the material to an animated medium. Kamiyama wanted to really take time and care to focus on the interpersonal ravages of war compared to large-scale battle sequences, which ended up having a huge product on the final version of the film.

While Tolkien went into detail on the lives and deaths of Helm and his two sons, in all recorded source material, the Hammerhand king’s daughter was never named, and the producers of The War of the Rohorrim decided to expand on her identity, and who she could have been, had she been given the depth to grow. From the promotional materials released by Warner Bros., it’s clear that the film places a strong, heavily developed look on Héra’s life and involvement in the war. Plus, thanks to the animation team’s gorgeous work, every character in the story has been brought to life.

The project truly lives up to the grandeur that The Lord of the Rings franchise is known for, and could easily be one of the best theatrical spectacles of 2024.