Archive recordings of the late Christopher Lee will be used to voice Saruman in this year’s animated film, The Lord Of The Rings: War Of The Rohirrim.
The late, great Christopher Lee played many iconic roles in his incredible career, including an excellent late career flourish as Saruman, the evil wizard who opposes the heroes of Middle-earth in Peter Jackson’s beloved adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings.
With his glowering eyes and brash arrogance, Lee brilliantly portrayed the human face of evil in the trilogy, embodying and humanising the corrupting forces of darkness and offering a pitch-perfect foil to Ian McKellen’s Gandalf. With news recently emerging that McKellen is set to return as Gandalf in at least one new live action Lord Of The Rings film, it’s lovely to hear that Lee will also be reprising his role as the villainous Saruman one more time, in this year’s animated feature, The Lord Of The Rings: War Of The Rohirrim.
While we’ve seen late actors brought ‘back to life’ before to reprise famous roles, the use of Lee in the upcoming animated feature doesn’t involve most of the the usual ethical minefields that we’ve seen for with Peter Cushing’s revival as Grand Moff Tarkin in 2016’s Rogue One, for example. (That particular case has led to an ongoing legal battle). Because it’s an animated film, no attempt will be made to create a digital double of Lee, nor will any AI shenigans be used to replicate his voice.
The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogy co-screenwriter Philippa Boyens confirmed the news, saying to fan site, The One Ring that: “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?”
At the time of the release of The Lord Of The RIngs, Lee was a little unhappy about the limited screentime that was given to the ultimate fate of Saruman, although the release of the extended versions of the films would eventually correct this. It seems that his character will be making one more appearance in Tolkien’s world though.
The Lord Of The Rings: War Of The Rohirrim releases in cinemas on the 13th December 2024.