It appears that Warner Bros. isn't done with its ventures into Middle-earth just yet. Almost a decade after The Hobbit trilogy ended, Warner Bros. is back with a prequel film set in the same cinematic universe. However, unlike previous live-action outings, the upcoming The Lord of the Rings film will be the animated sort.
First announced last summer, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an animated prequel set 250 years before 2001's The Fellowship of the Ring. In addition to New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation, Kenji Kamiyama will direct the project that will shine the spotlight on Helm's Deep, a massive and nigh-impregnable fortress first seen in 2002's The Two Towers. The story will also delve deep into the adventures of Rohan's reigning monarch at the time, Helm Hammerhand.
Warner Bros. is still hard at work on the project more than two years before its April 12, 2024, release, but the studio just dropped a photo teasing an incoming battle.
As shared with Variety, the concept art teases an epic brawl featuring what appears to be the Dunlendings trying to breach the capital of Rohan, Edoras. If the film follows the lore strictly, the battle might be when the Dunlendings successfully invaded and laid claim to Rohan. Of course, this is just a wild guess and it might just be a random battle in a film filled with a handful of them. Either way, the animated format guaranteed an unprecedented amount of detail for the War of the Rohirrim, as it gives the director far more creative freedom than a live-action film.
