New Lord of The Rings movie proves you can ‘use dead actors respectfully’

A new Lord of the Rings movie has been praised by fans for the way it’s decided to use a late actor who starred in the original film franchise.

The Lord of The Rings trilogy directed by Peter Jackson included The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, which were released in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The ensemble cast included Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee, who played Saruman, the wizard leader of the Istari.

He then went on to reprise the role in The Hobbit film trilogy, which was released between 2012 and 2014.

Lee, who had a career spanning six decades and had also appeared in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun and as Count Dooku in three Star Wars films, died in 2015 at the age of 93.

But nearly a decade on, he is set to feature in the latest Lord of The Rings movie.

The War of Rohirrim, an anime film, is due to be released on December 13 and takes place before the events of the original Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

The character of Saruman will appear in the film using archival recordings of Lee’s line readings.

The way this was achieved was described by Philippa Boyens, a longtime collaborator of Peter Jackson’s and co-writer of The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.

Speaking to TheOneRing.net at New York ComicCon, she explained how they used recordings of Lee from when he was alive, with no AI assistance at all.

‘We went into his [recordings], I got to go back and hear his voice, not just doing his lines, but talking to us as we were recording him,’ she said.

‘We based [his performance on The War of Rohirrim] on a line from The Hobbit, which is “are you in need of assistance my lady?”, a version of that line.

‘We can see how many takes he did of that, can we use it, can we find a new read on it, and change it up a little bit… but it is an authentic bit of Christopher Lee performance.’

The team behind the movie also sought permission from Lee’s widow Gitte, who has since died, to include the old recordings.

Addressing possible backlash to the decision, or suggestions an actor could have replicated Lee’s voice, Boyens said: ‘Now I know the internet’s going to say there’s a million people who could have done Chris Lee’s voice, but you know what? I don’t think so. I’m so glad we used his own voice.’

Many fans of the franchise also applauded the approach taken and said it respectfully ‘honoured’ the late star too.

‘This is how you use a deceased actor. Unused dialogue or cut takes and find a way to work around it. There’s been a few movies that have done this pretty effectively over the years, and it also uses no AI,’ MEdwardsVA posted on X.

‘Given how much he loved Tolkien, having even met him himself, I think he’d have been okay with this. It’s not AI, it’s unused recording of him as Saruman. Getting to hear Christopher Lee again in this iconic role, with new lines, will be so emotional for many. I’m so excited 💜’ Alice Thoren shared.

‘I was expecting that announcement to end with a mention of them using AI what a pleasant surprise that was to find they used archived recordings,’ WozAction added.

However, others had different opinions.

‘Archival recordings of deceased actors >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> AI voice of a deceased actor. Cannot overstate that enough. I do wish they recasted though. Give other actors a shot at iconic characters,’ JacobKolvVA wrote.

‘Everyone in the comments talking about how cool LOTR is for not using AI but like…it feels really weird to use archive audio of a dead man to keep his role going,’ Spellmaiden added.

Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original film trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings.

It stars Brian Cox, as well as Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino and Miranda Otto, Laurence Ubong Williams, and Shaun Dooley.

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