The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim – Release Date, Cast, Plot, And More Info
After "The Hobbit" trilogy got a mixed reception (despite being a commercial success) and "The Rings of Power" improved upon the feature films and even turned war from a cool source of thrills into the horror Tolkien described, the "Lord of the Rings" franchise is going back on the big screen where it belongs.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been threatening new live-action "Lord of the Rings" movies in his quest to just mine every piece of intellectual property the studio owns, but in the meantime, we are getting a brand new story set in Tolkien's legendarium, and there are many reasons to be excited about it. "The War of the Rohirrim" is a brand-new story set in Middle-earth, and it's one of our most anticipated movies of the year. But what exactly is this movie? Here's your guide to everything we know about "The War of the Rohirrim," including plot details, the film's release date, and more.
When does The War of the Rohirrim premiere?
"The War of the Rohirrim" was first announced as an animated film around the 20th anniversary of "The Fellowship of the Ring" back in 2021. Its release date was delayed due to the duel strikes of last year, and is now set to premiere on December 13, 2024.
This is significant because, unlike its original planned April release date, every single Middle-earth movie has been released in December (to great success). That "The War of the Rohirrim" is following this trend is reason to be excited, as it draws a connection between the anime film and the Peter Jackson movies.
December has been quite a month for big blockbusters, animated or otherwise. James Cameron has turned December into a mining ground for the highest-grossing movies of all time twice over, so it makes sense for New Line Cinema to try and make this another monumental success and recapture the success of the previous movies in the Middle-earth franchise.
What are the plot details of The War of the Rohirrim?
"The War of the Rohirrim" is set 261 years before the events of "The Fellowship of the Ring," and tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, the king of Rohan who fought against the Dunlendings and after whom Helm's Deep is named. The focus of the story is actually on Hèra, daughter of Helm and protector of Rohan.
During a presentation at the Annecy animation festival last year, producer Philippa Boyens described the main conflict as one between King Helm and a Dunlending called Freca with Rohirric blood, who has a claim to the throne. "Freca's proposal of marrying his son to Helm's daughter is the inciting incident that begins the titular war," Boyens said.
Like much of "The Hobbit" and of "The Rings of Power," the new film draws from the appendices of Tolkien's novels. Specifically, the film is based on three key paragraphs in Appendix A (yes, really). Those three paragraphs tell the story of the House of Eorl that ruled Rohan. "It's not just about war, but about the wreckage of war," Boyens added at Annecy.
Who is in the cast of The War of the Rohirrim?
The cast of "The War of the Rohirrim" includes Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand; Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, the leader of the Dunlendings; Saun Dooley as Wulf's father Freca; Laurence Ubong Williams as Helm's nephew Fréaláf Hildeson; and Gaia Wise as Hèra. Boyens described the character at the Annecy presentation as more than "just a warrior princess," taking inspiration from Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians who ruled during the time of the Viking invasion of England.
Miranda Otto, who played Éowyn in Peter Jackson's original trilogy, is also on board to reprise her role. She'll be the narrator of the film.
This is a promising cast, one that honors the spirit of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies in not relying on the stunt casting of big time actors except for a couple of roles — in this case, Brian Cox and Miranda Otto. With many animated movies relying on star-studded casts, it is good to see Middle-earth largely avoiding that trend.
Who is the director of The War of the Rohirrim?
"The War of the Rohirrim" is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, who has extensive experience in animation, both 2D and 3D. He's worked as a background artist on Ghibli movies like "Kiki's Delivery Service" (one of the best movies of all time, according to us), but also as a unit director on movies like "Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade." Kamiyama directed episodes of the popular "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" anime television series, "The Ninth Jedi" episode of "Star Wars: Visions," and created "Blade Runner: Black Lotus."
For this movie, they mostly animated in 2D, but Kamiyama said at Annecy that they used many techniques such as motion-capture performances as well as real-time gaming engines to work out camera angles in creating the animation. Kamiyama was clear in his intention not to do rotoscope, and instead, the animators had clear instructions to interpret and translate the motion capture as a reference for the 2D animation.
Who are the writers and producers of The War of the Rohirrim?
The script for "The War of the Rohirrim" was written by Arty Papageorgiou and his writing partner Phoebe Gittins, daughter of Philippa Boyens, who also returns to produce the film and consult on it, with the original script written by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews. Also returning is Sir Richard Taylor, creative director of Weta Workshop, as well as illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe, who worked on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
The animation on the film was done by Sola Entertainment, the studio behind "Tower of God," "Ninja Kamui," and also the upcoming "Lazarus" anime with Shinichiro Watanabe and action by "John Wick" franchise director Chad Stahelski. Among the producers are Jason DeMarco, one of the co-creators of Toonami, and Joseph Chou, who also produced "Ninja Kamui" and the upcoming "Rick and Morty" anime.
That last bit is important because it seems Warner Bros. is all in on anime — they're not only licensing titles to distribute, but also producing their own. "Ninja Kamui" is an Adult Swim original anime made in Japan, but airing in the U.S. first. Hopefully "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" is the first of many such anime features backed by big studios.