20 Minutes of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM Debuts at Annecy and Is Met with "Thunderous Applause"

Warner Bros. Animation and New Line Cinema recently debuted 20 minutes of footage from their upcoming Middle-earth anime epic The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

The footage was screened at the Annecy Animation Festival, and according to Variety, the footage was met with “thunderous applause” during the packed presentation Tuesday at the Annecy Animation Festival.

This is a project that I’ve been incredibly excited about, and footage has yet to be officially shared for everyone to watch.

The movie is directed by Kenji Kamiyana, who said he was “inspired by not just J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, but by the films of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh”, who are executive producers on the film.

Kamiyana (Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) talked with Andy Serkis during a panel at the event and Serkis said: “The fans are gong to go nuts for this.”

The story takes place two centuries before the events of Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and it will “explore the exploits of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), the King of Rohan, and the creation of Helm’s Deep, the stronghold.”

The movie is set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films. “A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg – a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep.

“Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra of Rohan (Gaia Wise), the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”

In the footage that was shown, “a dispute erupts during a council meeting, leaving Wulf, a ruthless Dunlending lord, seeking vengeance. Miranda Otto reprises her Lord of the Rings role as Éowyn, this time as the movie’s narrator.”

Philippa Boyens explained that the movie tells a story that is a “very human — and political — struggle.” She went on to say that the film is “not about the Ring, it’s not about the Dark Lord. All of that is very peripheral to the story.”

One of the things that she was attracted to about the story was the examination of honor, revenge, and familial ties — on both sides. “For Helm, there’s madness born of grief from the loss of the child. With Wulf, there’s his relationship with his father, and with Héra.”

The story will also include the historical grievances of the Dunlendings, that the lords of Gondor gave what the Dunlendings felt was their land to the Rohirrim.

Boyens goes on to tease a key moment in the movie, saying: “And there’s a moment in the film, which is incredibly gut-wrenching and powerful where Wulf commits himself to a course of action he cannot turn away from. And once he does that, the story darkens.”

She also explained that the movie will be both epic and claustrophobic: “So, yes, it begins with these quite large-scale battles, but it actually becomes more intense and … claustrophobic.” And then revealed that “the nature of the film changes almost into a ghost story.”

She said: “As the siege takes hold, as the rumors of horror begin to spread. And I can give you a little tease and let you know that, although we said this isn’t about The Ring and this isn’t about the Dark Lord … there are the White Mountains and there are creatures [out there].”

Gala Wise (A Walk in the Woods) will play Hammerhand’s daughter Hera, and Luke Pasqualino (Snowpiercer) will portray Wulf. The rest of the voice cast includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s Bridgerton), Yazdan Qafouri (I Came By), Benjamin Wainwright (BBC One’s World on Fire), Laurence Ubong Williams (Gateway), Shaun Dooley (Netflix’s The Witcher), Michael Wildman (Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation), Bilal Hasna (BBC’s Sparks), and Janine Duvitski (ITV’s Benidorm).

The film is currently in production at Sola Entertainment. Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim opens in theaters on December 13th.