Iconic Villain Returns For Lord of the Rings Anime Film 10 Years After His Death

On October 28, 2024, Christopher Lee is set to return as Saruman for the “Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim” film, with archival recordings from “The Hobbit” films to be used.

Christopher Lee returns as Saruman in ‘LORD OF THE RINGS: WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM’

The film uses archival recordings of Christopher Lee doing line readings from ‘THE HOBBIT’ films.

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Philippa Boyens, a longtime Lord of the Rings collaborator with Peter Jackson, explained to spoke to TheOneRign.net that they received permission from Lee’s widow, Gitte Lee (who has also since passed), to use unused recordings of Lee’s iconic voice.

The recordings have been made without the use of AI technology.

“We went into his [recordings], I got to go back and hear his voice, not just doing his lines, but talking to us as we were recording him,” Boyens said.

The performance the staff intended for the War of Rohirrim film is taken from the Hobbit film where Lee delivered a different version of “are you in need of assistance, my lady?”

This does indicate that there will only be that one line for Saruman in the film, as Boyens suggested that no one else could match Lee’s performance as Saruman.

“To be honest, we didn’t [know] if we could find that, and so just as sort of, like, due diligence, let’s see if there is a cast-alike as someone who can do the voice out there. Now, I know the internet is going to say, of course, ‘There’s a million people who could have done Chris Lee’s voice,’ but, do you know what? I don’t think so. I’m so glad we used his own voice, and it’s fantastic.”

All indications suggest that the production team have not tapped Christopher Lee voice matches such as Corey Burton, who played Count Dooku in most Star Wars properties, prominently in the two Clone Wars series.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an upcoming anime fantasy film directed by Kenji Kamiyama for New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation with animation production from Sola Entertainment.

The story is set around 260 years before the start of “The Lord of the Rings”, focusing on Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), King of Rohan, and how his daughter and movie protagonist, Héra (Gaia Wise), took on a powerful enemy.

Miranda Otto will act as the narrator through her character Eowyn, making her the only cast member from “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy to reprise her role.

The film is set to be released on December 13, 2024.

Source: TheOneRing Youtube Channel

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