Succession star Brian Cox will voice the lead in the upcoming anime movie The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. He’ll be joined by returning Lord of the Rings actress Miranda Otto, plus Gaia Wise (Silent Witness, A Walk in the Woods), Luke Pasqualino (Snowpiercer), and more for the upcoming fantasy feature, expected to arrive in theaters on April 12th, 2024.
According to Deadline, Cox will portray the film’s protagonist, Helm Hammerhand, who serves as the King of Rohan 183 years before the events of original LOTR trilogy. Hammerhand must defend his family and his claim against the clever and ruthless Dunlending lord Wulf (Pasqualino). With the help of his daughter Hera (Wise), Hammerhand ultimately stages a last stand at the Hornburg, which later becomes known as Helm’s Deep and hosts the climactic battle sequence in the trilogy’s second installment, The Two Towers.
The source material for The War of the Rohirrim lies in the appendices of author J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novels. Aside from its connections to the original film trilogy’s setting, the casting of Otto will be the only in-story link to the Peter Jackson-directed epics. Reprising her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, Otto is set to narrate the legend of her people’s bygone hero.
Rounding out the voice cast is Lorraine Ashbourne (Bridgerton), Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, and Janine Duvitski.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim will be directed by anime veteran Kenji Kamiyama. Joseph Chou will produce along with executive producer and Oscar winner Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the preceding Middle Earth trilogies Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. The new film entry’s screenplay was written by Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou from a script penned by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, creators of Netflix’s Emmy-winning series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
Meanwhile, Amazon Studios is in the final stages of preparing its own LOTR adaptation, the $465 million first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, arriving on September 2nd. The series follows events taking place years before the original trilogy and has already been renewed for a second season.
