Amazon Studios The Rings of Power is here. The Second season is on its way. We want all Spoilerites to have the best viewing experience possible and have the widest knowledge base about the Second Age of Middle-Earth. This is a weekly Let’s Get Nerdy article series highlighting a different piece of Tolkien I think you need to know about!
In past articles I have answered the question:
-
- What Are the Rings of Power?
- What is Númenor?
- What is the Second Age?
- Who are the Harfoots?
- Who is Prince Durin IV?
- What is Khazad-dûm?
- Who is Celebrimbor?
- What is the Last Alliance of Men and Elves?
- Who is Elendil?
- New Pics! Who are Bronwyn and Theo?
- What is Rivendell?
- The Rings of Power First Reactions Are In!
- What is Lindon?
- What are the Nine Human Rings?
- Empire Magazine’s The Rings of Power Covers
- New Character Pictures
- Will Wizards Appear in The Rings of Power?
- New Promo for The Rings of Power
- What is Eregion?
- Leaked! Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- The Rings of Power Teaser Breakdown
- New EW Rings of Power Pictures
- SDCC Rings of Power Trailer Breakdown
- Who is Isildur?
- The Rings of Power is Here! Read the Reactions
- Who is the Stranger?
- Who is Queen Míriel?
- Who is Ar-Pharazôn?
- What is the broken black blade?
- What is Mordor?
- What is Mithril?
- What are the Silmarils?
- What is Narsil?
- Who founded Númenor?
- Who is Galadriel’s Brother Finrod?
- Rings of Power Adds 15 New Cast Members for Season 2
- Who is Círdan?
- Will Celeborn Appear in The Rings of Power?
- Are Galadriel and Sauron Enemies in Book Canon?
- Who is Narvi?
- Jamie Bisping Cast as Viran
- Will the Harfoots Settle The Shire?
- What to Watch Before The Rings of Power Season 2
- Will We See More Rings in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Will Lord Belzagar Appear in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Who is Diarmid?
- Will Ringwraiths appear in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Will Gil-Galad Lead an Army in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Is the Balrog Durin’s Bane?
- Who is Isildur’s sister Eärien?
- What is Rhûn Where Nori & The Stranger are Headed?
- Will Galadriel Go Dark in The Rings of Power Season 2?
- Where are the Southlanders Going?
- Is Durin Still a Prince?
- How Eärien will use the Palantir in The Rings of Power Season 2
- Is the Rings of Power close to canon? Will it get closer in Season 2?
- What is The War of the Elves and Sauron?
- Who are the Three New Rings of Power Cast Members? Ciarán Hinds, Rory Kinnear and Tanya Moodie
- Who are the Three Witches Trying to Rescue Sauron?
- Rings of Power season 2 Reportedly Wraps Filming
- Nenya will Appear in The Rings of Power season 2
- Will We see Shelob in The Rings of Power season 2?
- How Celeborn Could Appear in The Rings of Power season 2
- Will The Rings of Power be at San Diego Comic-Con?
- How are Hobbits and Harfoots Different?
- Who is Galadriel?
- What are Noldor Elves?
- Who are “Durin’s Folk”?
- What are the Seven Dwarf-Lord Rings?
- How did Humans come to Middle-Earth?
- Who is High King Gil-Galad?
- What are Sindar Elves?
- What is Hobbit Day?
- Finding all the Lord of the Rings at New York Comic Con
- Who are the Rohirrim?
- New Lord of the Rings Video Game – Return to Moria – is Here!
- Who is Gimli, son of Glóin?
- What is the Fourth Age of Middle-Earth?
- What are Cave Trolls?
- Why does the Bridge of Khazad-dûm Matter?
- Are Orcs and Goblins Different in Middle-Earth?
- The Rings of Power Season 2 – Where Are We Now?
Not only are we lucky to live in a world where The Rings of Power is streaming on Amazon Prime, but we are getting another Lord of the Rings project from New Line Cinema – who produced the original Lord of the Rings film trilogy – in the form of War of the Rohirrim. Announced in 2021 The War of the Rohirrim is The Lord of the Rings first foray into the world of “anime”.
Another “animated”, specifically “anime”.
Personally, I have complicated feelings about a hyper Euro-ethnic and Euro-centric Ur-myth being adapted in a Japanese storytelling style. I wonder if it’s wholly respectful. I wonder if it’s folly in the way adapting Japanese anime to American live action television shows consistently whiffs. As a white Canadian-American it’s not my place to be an authority on this Venn diagram, however I did want to address it.
At the height of both the WGA Strike and the SAG-AFTRA Strike Deadline announced that propose April 2024 release date for The War of the Rohirrim was pushed back to December 2024 as part of the Warner Bros. realignment of their entire upcoming slate – the most notable change during this announcement was Dune 2 being pushed back to 2024 despite the film being entirely completed and the stage of development it was in (deep post-production), not at all being affects by either Guild’s strike.
If this is the first time you’re hearing about The War of the Rohirrim here are the core story details:
The project and the project lead:
“The anime feature, directed by Kenji Kamiyama, is set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original New Line Lord of the Rings trilogy. Those Peter Jackson movies, in addition to his Hobbit trilogy, always played the December year-end holiday period.”
Jackson does not appear to be involved in The War of the Rohirrim, however it is worth noting Philippa Boyens (lead screenwriter on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies), is serving as Executive Producer on the project.
The story:
“The War of the Rohirrim centers on the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan, a character from the appendix of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Succession actor Brian Cox will provide the voice of the protagonist.
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, Hera, Helm’s daughter, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”
… per Deadline.
Arguably the most fun detail about The War of the Rohirrim for Spoilerites, like myself, who are Lord of the Rings obsessives, is the inclusion of Miranda Otto in the cast. Otto played Éowyn in the original The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Academy Award-winning films. At present she is credit as reprising her role as “Éowyn” who would very much not be alive during the time period The War of the Rohirrim is set. I’m left to presume she’ll be the narrator of the film doing brief intros and outros to each episode as a bit of a stunt and to provide exposition and context for non-book nerds.
In addition to Otto the cast of The War of the Rohirrim includes: 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).
The current release date is: December 13th, 2024.
More details as they come!
