New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation have announced they are developing an anime feature film called The War of the Rohirrim. Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, it will be set over 250 years before the main events of The Lord of the Rings during the tumultuous reign of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan.
According to Deadline, although Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will not be involved in the project, Philippa Boyens—screenwriter for both Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies—will act as a consultant. Director Kenji Kamiyama is known for other anime projects like Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
Upon hearing the news, Chair of The Tolkien Society, Shaun Gunner, said:
Tolkien fans will be delighted to see more of Middle-earth on screen. In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy we got a hint of the wider history that underpins Tolkien’s creation, and the Rohirrim are no exception.
Originally from the North, they were granted the land of Calenardhon for assisting Gondor to victory in battle.
The story of Helm Hammerhand, set over 250 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, is a tragic and powerful story in Tolkien’s mythology, so I shan’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it!
I’m excited to see a different interpretation of Tolkien’s works, and in a different visual style. I hope it brings even more people to reading Tolkien’s creation—it will certainly resend me back to the book!
No release date has been publicised.
