Lord of the Rings will resurrect this actor for The War of the Rohirrim (here's how)

Lord of the Rings is an incredibly active brand these days. Amazon has been rolling out the Rings of Power on streaming, Andy Serkis is set to direct another live-action Lord of the Rings, and now the franchise is prepping the release of an animated prequel, The War of the Rohirrim.

The prequel will be set 183 years before the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and focus on Helm Hammerland, a legendary warrior voiced by Brian Cox. The film will largely exist outside of the realm and the characters who were presented in the main trilogy, but one character is set to return is Sarumon.

Christopher Lee's Hobbit dialogue was repurposed

Sarumon was played by Christopher Lee, who died in 2015. It's difficult to imagine anybody but Lee playing the character, and thanks to movie magic, we don't have to. Lee will be lending his voice to the upcoming animated film, according to War of the Rohirrim producer Philippa Boyens.

Boyens spoke about the process of resurrecting Lee with TheOneRing at New York Comic Con. She explained that the late actor will be present as ever in the Lord of the Rings universe by way of all the outtakes and unused recordings that he left behind.

In particular, Lee's performance in War of the Rohirrim will be stitched together from line leadings that he gave during the making of the Hobbit trilogy:

"Sir Christopher would’ve wanted this. So we went into his records, I got to go back and hear his voice–not just doing the lines, but talking to us as we were recording him."

Lee has had several posthumous releases

There's been some concern that AI was used to bring Lee back from the dead, but Boyens assured the fans that they will be getting an authentic performance, and one that was thoroughly researched to ensure that the actor's memory was respected. "It an authentic bit of Christoper Lee performance," she asserted.

This is far from the first time that Lee's voice has been used posthumously. He served as the voice of God in the film Angels In Notting Hill (2016), the narrator in the short The Hunting of the Snark (2017), and the narrator for the TV documentary The Time War (2018). It's safe to assume, however, that War of the Rohirrim will mark Lee's final voice appearance.