The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Film Uses Late Christopher Lee’s Voice for Saruman

Philippa Boyens, who was part of the screenwriting team on the live-action The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies and consultant on The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim anime film, revealed last week in an interview with The One Ring website that the upcoming anime film will use the late Sir Christopher Lee‘s voice for his character Saruman from the original live-action films.

Boyens stated that after talking to Lee’s now-late wife Gitte Lee, they went to his records for a voice line from The Hobbit films, agreeing that “Christopher would have wanted this.” The line, or an approximation of the line, is “Are you in need of assistance, my lady?” They looked for a take they could use, and the staff changed it up “a little bit.” Boyens added that they had considered finding a new cast member who could do a similar voice for Saruman, but ended up using Lee’s voice for the anime.

English actor Lee died in June 2015. He played Saruman in the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies.

The film is the latest feature film by Kenji Kamiyama.

The film opens in U.S. theaters on December 13 and internationally beginning on December 11.

New Line Cinema describes the film:

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. 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, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.

Brian Cox plays Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan and protagonist. Gaia Wise plays Helm’s daughter Hera. Luke Pasqualino plays Wulf, a Dunlending lord. Miranda Otto reprises her role from the original films as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, and she is also the narrator. The cast also includes Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaun Dooley, Michael Wildman, Jude Akuwudike, Bilal Hasna, and Janine Duvitski.

The film will open in Japan on December 27. Masachika Ichimura plays Helm Hammerhand in the Japanese dub. Fūka Koshiba voices Héra. Kenjirō Tsuda plays Wulf. Takako Honda voices Olwin (Character romanization not official), a companion and supporter of Héra. Manabu Muraji plays the orc Lot (Character romanization not official). Hayato Taya voices the retainer Reef (Character romanization not official).

Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood, and Toby Emmerich are serving as executive producers on the film. Jackson directed and co-wrote the earlier live-action film trilogies for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit stories, and Walsh co-wrote their screenplays.

Joseph Chou (Blade Runner: Black Lotus TV series) is producing. Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), Phoebe Gittins, and Arty Papageorgiou are penning the screenplay, based on the story by Addiss and Matthews.

The theme song is “The Rider” by an artist to be announced. Phoebe Gittins and David Long wrote the song.

Jason DeMarco — Adult Swim‘s senior vice president and head of anime and action series as well as senior vice president in the anime and action series/longform department at Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios — is a producer on the film, and he confirmed that the film is in 2D.’

Source: The One Ring’s YouTube channel