J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic legendarium is back on the big screen this December, in a way that we’ve never seen Middle-Earth before — as an anime film. Finally, we’ve now got the first trailer for “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” Kenji Kamiyama‘s bold new vision of that sword-and-sorcery universe, executive produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, and released by Warner Bros. Watch it above.
The 58-year-old Kamiyama worked his way up in anime, initially as a background artist on “Akira” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” before making his debut as a director with “MiniPato.” He directed several of the “Ghost in the Shell” sequels as well as serving as co-director alongside Shinji Aramaki on “Blade Runner: Black Lotus,” which was a co-production of Crunchyroll and Adult Swim.
Warner Bros. tapped him for “War of the Rohirrim,” a unique expansion of the “Lord of the Rings” based on a story from the Appendices found at the back of “The Return of the King.” That section of the book contains many collected notes and histories of Middle-Earth, including of the horse lords of Rohan, known as the Rohirrim. One of those tales became this film: 183 years before the events of “The Lord of the Rings,” Rohan’s great king Helm Hammerhand (voiced in the film by Brian Cox) killed a Dunland lord whose son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) had the temerity to ask for the hand of Helm’s daughter, Hera (Gaia Wise). Determined to avenge his father, Wulf rallies his own people against Rohan, while Hera, a cunning rider on her own, helps to steer the fight in Rohan’s favor herself.
If that sounds a little more “Game of Thrones” than what you’d typically expect from Tolkien, that’s right: This is all about desire and rejection, betrayal and vengeance — about what happens when ambitions are thwarted and honor is sullied. It’s perfect material for an anime, and in Kamiyama’s vision it looks as exquisitely detailed as you’d expect: Horsemen do battle with mumakil (the elephant-like giants that played such a big role in the battles seen in “The Lord of the Rings:) and Hera seems to befriend one of the giant eagles we know ultimately rescue Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom. Quite a deep dive into, and ultimately expansion of, the lore. This film has been in the works for years now and seems like an ideal way to get viewers hungry for Andy Serkis’s upcoming live-action film “The Hunt for Gollum.”
Warner Bros. will release “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” in theaters December 13.
