This year marks 20 years since Fellowship of the Ring was released, bringing audiences into the epic world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Now, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation have announced The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, a new movie set in Middle Earth.
The War of the Rohirrim is an anime film directed by Kenji Kamiyama (Blade Runner: Black Lotus, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), produced by Joseph Chou (Blade Runner: Black Lotus) and written by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance). Philippa Boyens, one of the screenwriters of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, is a consultant on the project.
According to a press release from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros, The War of the Rohirrim will serve as a “companion piece” to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, exploring an epic battle from Middle Earth’s history. It tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, the ninth King of Rohan, and the namesake of Helm’s Deep.
Carolyn Blackwood, Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, and Richard Brener, President and Chief Creative Officer, New Line Cinema, said in a joint statement:
All of us at New Line feel a deep affinity for the extraordinary world J.R.R. Tolkien created, so the opportunity to dive back into Middle-earth with the team at Warner Bros. Animation is a dream come true. Fans know Helm’s Deep as the stage for one of the greatest battles ever put to film and, with many of the same creative visionaries involved and the brilliant Kenji Kamiyama at the helm, we couldn’t be more excited to deliver a fresh vision of its history that will invite global audiences to experience the rich, complex saga of Middle-earth in a thrilling new way.
Animation work and voice casting are already in the works, with The War of the Rohirrim being fast-tracked. This is not the only Tolkien-related project currently being produced, as Amazon is also working on its Lord of the Rings series. The projects are unrelated, but one thing is clear: audiences will be getting a lot more Middle Earth in the future.