New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. debuted 20 minutes of footage from The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim during the Annecy Animation Festival earlier today, and while that preview has not been released online, we do have a first official look at the anime-style feature film thanks to some promo images.
The stills come via EW and People, and reveal the character designs for Helm Hammerhand, Héra, Haleth, Hama, and the villainous Wulf.
The Middle Earth adventure, which is set almost 200 years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic trilogy, follows mighty King of Rohan Helm Hammerhand as he defends the fortress that came to be known as Helm's Deep from a relentless siege.
“This is the story of the most powerful king in Rohan's history, someone who defeated his enemies with his bare fists,” director Kenji Kamiyama tells EW. “Why did his lineage have to end with him? I think there is a lesson in hubris there and also for a need for responsibility and awareness in their power. We live in an age where, all over the world, we face the reality of war again. What, then, is power? What is the responsibility of those who possess it? It is something they need to think about by thinking together with those who don’t.”
Check out the images below.
Brian Cox (Succession) will voice Hammerhand, with Gaia Wise (A Walk in the Woods) as his daughter Hera; and Luke Pasqualino (Snowpiercer) Wulf. Miranda Otto is also set to reprise the role of Éowyn from Peter Jackson's LOTR movies, but the character won't actually appear (as far as we know), and will serve as narrator.
The supporting voice cast will consist of Lorraine Ashbourne (Bridgerton), Yazdan Qafouri (I Came By), Benjamin Wainwright (World on Fire), Laurence Ubong Williams (Gateway), Shaun Dooley (The Witcher), Michael Wildman (Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation), Bilal Hasna (Sparks) and Janine Duvitski (Benidorm).
"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," reads the synopsis. "Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Hera, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction."