Christopher Lee Returns As Saruman the White in ‘Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’

Christopher Lee was the only original Lord of the Rings actor to meet J.R.R Tolkien personally before the author died in the 1950s (via US Weekly). Lee recounts reading The Hobbit after leaving the Royal Air Force and British Intelligence in 1945, a few years after its publication. He would go on to read the novels every year following their publication until the films were made. He had always wanted to play Gandalf the Grey in a live-action movie, but due to his age and voice, director Peter Jackson selected Lee as Saruman the White in both the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. Unfortunately, the legendary actor passed away in June 2015. Ironically, while in the hospital, the actor asked to watch the Lord of the Rings films so he could discuss how it was made with the nurses (via Yahoo Movie UK).

Now, a brand new anime film is set to be released in Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The first teaser debuted several months ago, but a glimpse of an animated Saruman the White is teased in the international version. Many assumed that due to Lee’s passing, someone else would take over the voice role for the film. Some fans suggested that Star Wars: The Clone Wars voice actor Corey Burton may be asked to take up the mantle like he did as Count Dooku.

However, it has been revealed that Christopher Lee himself will voice the character one last time. Instead of using the less-than-optimal AI to imitate the actor’s voice, the studio uses outtakes and unused lines from The Hobbit films to be as authentic as possible. Disney did this with Carrie Fisher when her unused live-action scenes were CGI’d into Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker following her passing. Lee’s longtime wife Birgit Kroencke permitted the studio to use her late husband’s voice in the future as it was his wish to live on as Saruman.

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