The trailer for The Lord of the Rings anime prequel just dropped

Arise, arise, riders of Rohan! The call to return to Middle Earth has been sounded in a new trailer unveiled last night for anime adaptation The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim. Led by Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex director Kenji Kamiyama and succession star Brian Cox, the film is slated for a December 13 release.

Taking place 150 years before the events recorded in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the story centres on the House of Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan, as he makes his final stand in the fortress of Hornburg, which would later come to be known as Helm’s Deep (the location of the the battle in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers). King Helm Hammerhand will be voiced by Brian Cox and supported by Gaia Wise, playing his warrior-princess daughter Héra. Original The Lord of the Rings star Miranda Otto will also return to voice Rohirric noblewoman and shieldmaiden Eowyn of “I am no man!” fame, who narrates the story.

Opening with a scene from The Two Towers, the trailer features familiar Middle Earth creatures such as Oliphaunts (giant war elephants) and the Great Eagles, as well as a teaser shot of the precious rings themselves. Fans online are divided, however, with some expressing concern over the Vinland Saga-coded animation’s lower framerate to compensate for the use of CGI, as well as its slightly off-key English lip-syncing arising from the Japanese language production. It should be noted that, despite the gargantuan success of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy, The Lord of the Rings was actually first adapted as an animated feature back in 1978 with Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings.

Unfortunately, film’s focus on looming evil forces seems to have percolated into the real world, having already received support from Elon Musk and Italian far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who will personally open an exhibition about The Lord of the Rings’ author JRR Tolkien’s work at Rome’s National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art this coming Wednesday (August 28). Fingers crossed there are no rings of power present at the exhibition.