New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures have released an official synopsis for the highly anticipated Middle-earth anime film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

This is a film that I’ve been extremely excited about and the first footage that was screened recently had a great reception and was met with “Thunderous Applause.” I can’t wait to see some actual footage from this thing!

The synopsis for the film reads: “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.”

The movie is directed by Kenji Kamiyana, who said he was “inspired by not just J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books, but by the films of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh,” who are executive producers on the film.

Producer Philippa Boyens explained that the movie tells a story that is a “very human — and political — struggle.” She went on to say that the film is “not about the Ring, it’s not about the Dark Lord. All of that is very peripheral to the story.”

One of the things that she was attracted to about the story was the examination of honor, revenge, and familial ties — on both sides. “For Helm, there’s madness born of grief from the loss of the child. With Wulf, there’s his relationship with his father, and with Héra.”

The story will also include the historical grievances of the Dunlendings, that the lords of Gondor gave what the Dunlendings felt was their land to the Rohirrim.

Boyens goes on to tease a key moment in the movie, saying: “And there’s a moment in the film, which is incredibly gut-wrenching and powerful where Wulf commits himself to a course of action he cannot turn away from. And once he does that, the story darkens.”

The voice cast includes Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand the king of Rohan, Lorraine Ashbourne (Netflix’s Bridgerton), Yazdan Qafouri (I Came By), Benjamin Wainwright (BBC One’s World on Fire), Laurence Ubong Williams (Gateway), Shaun Dooley (Netflix’s The Witcher), Michael Wildman (Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation), Bilal Hasna (BBC’s Sparks), and Janine Duvitski (ITV’s Benidorm).

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim hits theaters on December 13th.