The War of the Rohirrim cast and crew explain what makes new Lord of the Rings movie special

In a couple of weeks, a new Lord of the Rings movie is coming to theaters: The War of the Rohirrim is an animated feature set over 100 years before The Lord of the Rings proper, about a conflict that leads to the construction of Helm's Deep, the fortress for the people of Rohan memorably featured in Peter Jackson's movie The Two Towers. It's a fairly obscure bit of lore, so why did producer Philippa Boyens, who also wrote the original Lord of the Rings movie trilogy alongside Jackson and Fran Walsh, think it was a good candidate to turn into a movie?

"Rohirrim was us testing the waters for ourselves," Boyens explained in the new issue of SFX Magazine. "Can we go back to Middle-earth? Should we go back? And it's been a joy to go back. I've fallen back in love with the whole story and the world, and especially with Professor Tolkien's mind and the way he thinks, which I've rediscovered all over again."

"He didn't just write books. He wrote an entire mythos. So his work can hold a lot. This is just another contribution to that world he created. In the end, it's up to the audience – as long as people want to engage with that world, there's going to be dramatic works put out there."

There's a lot of new Lord of the Rings stuff around today, including the TV show The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime Video. As a Lord of the Rings fan from way back when, I'm interested in The War of the Rohirrim, but also cautious. Will it be enough like the original story to feel like it's part of the same universe but different enough to stand on its own? It's a difficult needle to thread.

Boyens is doing her best to sell the concept: "One of the reasons why I kept getting stuck on what our foray back into the world of Middle-earth could be was that we didn’t want it to involve Dark Lords or rings, and that it could be a self-contained story, that it wouldn’t necessarily involve characters that we already knew, that this could revolve around a whole fresh set of characters," she said. "I felt it needed to be a story that could stand alone in the form of animation – and I always loved the Rohirrim as a people, I found them fascinating."

"I was always a little bit skeptical. It wasn’t until Warner Bros came to us and said, 'What about an anime film?' that I felt, 'Yes, an anime film could absolutely work in Middle-earth.' The story of Helm immediately came to mind as soon as they said anime. It felt like a story that would fit well within the tradition of great Japanese cinematic storytelling. Not just themes of honor, but of family, and that sense that even our heroes have quite significant flaws, in the case of Helm Hammerhand."

What is The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim about?

Let's back up a second. We've given the story of The War of the Rohirrim to you in the broadest strokes, but what are we actually talking about? Well, the story will involve a conflict between Helm Hammerhand, a leader of the people of Rohan, and a Dunlending lord named Wulf. Much of it will be seen through the eyes of Helm's daughter Héra. "I created an original episode for the movie using parts that were not in the original," director Kenji Kamiyama explained to Japanese outlet Oricon, per CBR. "The youngest daughter did not have a name...so I added Héra as an original character for the movie."

Naturally, Kamiyama is also a big Lord of the Rings fan, and even though this story doesn't include any characters we remember from J.R.R. Tolkien's original trilogy, he hinted at some easter eggs fans may want to look out for: "Of course, I thought about how to connect this film to the world 200 years ago, but I think I was able to incorporate some other gimmicks that will make Lord of the Rings fans smile."

One of those easter eggs may be the inclusion of Miranda Otto as the narrator; Otto played Éowyn, a shieldmaiden of Rohan, in Jackson's movie trilogy. Beyond that, The War of the Rohirrim stars Gaia Wise as Héra, Luke Pasqualino as Wulf, and Succession star Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand.

Cox, the biggest name associated with the film, talked up his part during an interview with Stephen Colbert. "He's an appointed king. He's not a king by divine right of kings. He was probably a warrior until he was 55 and then he became the king. And he's in trouble. It's all gone wrong. He's got to sort it out."

Cox also made some strange claims about his history with J.R.R. Tolkien's work, saying that he isn't familiar but that he thinks he once read one of Tolkien's books at some point. He doesn't remember what it was, but does know that it wasn't The Lord of the Rings, which is far and away the author's most successful work.

Colbert, himself a Lord of the Rings superfan, knows how weird that is, and rattles off a list of obscure Tolkien books that Cox might have read instead, finally asking if he read The Silmarillion, Tolkien's difficult tome of Middle-earth pre-history. "That might have been it," Cox said. "I can't remember a word of the story but it was very enjoyable."

Colbert sounds as skeptical of that claim as I am, but doesn't push it. "You'd be the only person who only read The Silmarillion in the entire world," he joshes before moving on.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim comes out in theaters on December 13. Color me somewhat intrigued!

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