The Lord of the Rings franchise is gearing up for an exciting new chapter with the announcement of its first female-led movie, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.
This much-anticipated anime feature film is scheduled to be released on 13 December 2024, and it's a creative innovation that has placed a powerful woman at the center of the action.
The story centers around the character of Hèra, a girl voiced by Gaia Wise, who is the daughter of Helm Hammerhand, voiced by Brian Cox, a famous king of Rohan. As a prequel that takes place nearly 200 years before the events of the Lord of the Rings films, the story is about Hèra, who finds herself in the middle of a family struggle that soon spirals into war.
During a panel at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, director Kenji Kamiyama (known for Blade Runner: Black Lotus) revealed that the first 20 minutes of the film were shown to the audience, who gave it a standing ovation. The footage was introduced by Andy Serkis, who played the role of Gollum in the live-action Lord of the Rings and Hobbit, which he described it as “extraordinary”.
The creators of The War of the Rohirrim are the executive producers, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, who are well known for the LOTR series. Boyens, who is a co-writer of the first six films, is also deeply involved in the storytelling of the new anime film.
At two and a half hours long, The War of the Rohirrim looks set to be an epic that will provide a backstory for Helm’s Deep which is a key place from the Lord of the Rings. Éowyn is also presented as a narrator of the film and thus, there is another powerful woman in the movie.
Serkis admitted fans of the franchise will love this new chapter saying that they will “go nuts for this”. The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is to become a legendary spin-off of the series that will feature the brilliant woman’s ensemble and an all-woman creative team.
