‘Lord of the Rings’ producer speaks out on ‘The War of the Rohirrim’ casting

There’s no doubt that the most ambitious Middle-earth project currently on the horizon is Amazon’s The Rings of Power series, but long-time fans of Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation are turning their eyes towards another work; an animated feature film set some 183 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The War of the Rohirrim is produced by New Line Cinema and helmed by acclaimed Ghost in the Shell producer Kenji Kamiyama. The story shares the same continuity with Jackson’s world, and as the title suggests, involves Helm Hammerhand, the legendary king of Rohan who eventually became the namesake for Helm’s Deep.

New Line recently announced the cast for The War of Rohirrim, and the surprise addition of Miranda Otto as Éowyn has managed to generate quite the stir among fans. Éowyn is not actually a character in the story but rather narrates it to an unknown audience in the future, perhaps her son Elboron or her grandson Barahir, whom she shares with Faramir, the First Prince of Ithilien.

Now, in a recent chat with TheOneRing, Philippa Boyens, co-writer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, has talked about Éowyn’s inclusion in this new story.

“Her voice was familiar. And then I think it started to come easily for the writers. It’s also so fragmentary, what we are dealing with in terms of the source material. It’s little bits of references here and there… so the oral tradition felt kind of right. The oral tradition of her telling the tale, passing the tale on.”

Get ready, folks, because the Horn of Helm Hammerhand is going to sound one last time.