The late film icon Christopher Lee is set to return to the big screen this year playing one of his most iconic roles. It has been confirmed that Lee’s voice will be heard in the upcoming “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” animated feature, the actor reprising his role as the wizard Saruman. “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogy co-screenwriter Philippa Boyens confirmed the news, telling that Lee’s voice was pulled from authentic archival footage and is NOT some AI-generated creation: “I reached out to Gita, Lady Lee, and she said the thing that I think Peter (Jackson) felt in his heart.
Christopher would’ve wanted this. And so we went into his records and got to go back and hear his voice, not just doing the lines, but talking to us as well. We based it on a line from The Hobbit, which is, ‘Are you in need of assistance, my lady?’ [It was] a version of that line.
.. Can we use it? Can we find a new read of it?” Lee played Saruman in both love-action trilogies with “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” serving as the final movie released in his lifetime.
The film takes place approximately 183 years before the events of “The Lord of the Rings” and explores the era of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), the King of Rohan, and the origins of the fortress at Helm’s Deep. “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” opens in cinemas on December 13th..
