EXCLUSIVE – Pippin as a ruthless leader? Alfrid the woodland elf? Colour us intrigued!
Billy Boyd (LOTR) and Ryan Gage (The Hobbit) star in a new fantasy feature film called WARLORD. Gamers may recognize the rest of the cast too – Jennifer English is Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Aliona Baranova is in Cyberpunk 2077: The Phantom Liberty.
Director & actor Stuart Brennan jumped into our instagram comments this week to let fans know the movie trailer “will release in a few weeks time.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE First Look: Warlord Brings a Gritty Wood Elf Fantasy Thriller to Screens This May
London, UK – February 20, 2025 – The highly anticipated fantasy thriller Warlord is set to premiere on May 15, 2025, ahead of its global release on May 16th, 2025. Helmed by award-winning writer-director Stuart Brennan (Kingslayer, Assassin’s Guild), Warlord promises a dark and immersive journey into a mystical forest realm where war, rebellion, and power struggles unfold in uncompromising fashion.
Starring an ensemble cast led by Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings), along with Ryan Gage, known for his role as Alfrid in the The Hobbit; Warlord delivers a fresh take on medieval fantasy. With cinematography by Doug Milsome BSC, ASC (Full Metal Jacket, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), the film boasts a striking visual aesthetic reminiscent of classic epic filmmaking.
Set in a world rife with injustice, Warlord follows a peaceful Wood Elf leader forced to take up arms against an oppressive Sheriff and his mercenaries. As rebellion stirs, alliances are tested, and the elves’ true motives come into question, setting the stage for a thrilling battle for justice and survival.
Director Stuart Brennan shares his vision: “I grew up inspired by stories like Robin Hood, and I wanted to craft a film that explores timeless struggles—oppression, resistance, and the cost of war. Warlord is an intense, character-driven journey that I feel is timely and dealing with themes that are current real world issues. Having been a big fan of Warhammer growing up, Wood Elves were always my army of choice and so getting a chance to bring wood elves into my universe has been particularly special.”
A first-look at the poster of the film has been released today with exclusive images of Billy Boyd as The Sheriff and Ryan Gage as The Brute. Brennan was very excited about the casting; “I love Lord of the Rings, so working with Billy was very cool. He’s incredibly detail orientated and a very prepared actor. He arrived on set excited to be playing a dark and richly complex character. We’d had a few video calls to talk through the part and once he was in costume, on location it was genuinely one of the highlights of my career being able to capture him bringing this role to life. It’s very different from anything he’s done before.”
This was the third movie he had got to work with Gage; “Ryan is a superb actor, he’s also very prepared, very specific and creative with his choices. He was one of the first people I sent the script and this character really jumped out at him. He’s a lot of fun in this movie, very dark, very wicked.”
Further details will be revealed in the coming weeks.
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Last Fall, John Rhys-Davies and Ryan Gage (aka Gimli and Alfrid) were in Scotland, working on a movie together. Today TORn has an exclusive first peek at a press release, and some fabulous images from the upcoming film, Kingslayer.
The press release tells us:
Kingslayer is a historical action film based on the real life of Richard the Lionheart. Days away from his coronation, a secret meeting with the woman he loves, turns into a life and death fight for survival. As hired mercenaries attack, Chaplain Anselm who has gone looking for the young prince, tries to uncover who is behind the plot and prevent civil war.
The feature penned and directed by BAFTA-award winner Stuart Brennan, has Golden Globe winning Producer Gareth Wiley working alongside him, best known for his four movies with Woody Allen, including MatchPoint and Vicky, Christina, Barcelona. Stanley Kubrick’s Director of Photography is also on board, the Emmy Nominated Doug Milsome BSC, ASC (Full Metal Jacket, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves).
An equally impressive cast have also signed up including Carolina Carlsson (Dragonheart: Vengeance, The Young Pope), Mark Wake (The Necromancer), David Hayman (Fisherman’s Friends), Ian Hanmore (Game of Thrones) and Mark Springer (Shadow & Bone).
John Rhys-Davies plays the role of one of the medieval era’s most famous knights; William Marshal. A man who opposed Richard, until he became King, and then was welcomed as a trusted adviser for keeping his word and not switching sides in the face of defeat, like so many did. Brennan takes the role of Prince Richard and Ryan Gage that of Chaplain Anselm.
Production companies Stronghold and Phoenix Wiley are behind the production. The film shot on location at Dunskey Estate in Stranraer, Scotland and at Crichton Memorial Church in Dumfries during September and October of 2020. This is the fifth feature film produced by Stronghold to have filmed in Scotland.
Stronghold Press Release
Tune in to TORn Tuesday TONIGHT for a look at all of the exclusive images! Here’s one of Rhys-Davies in character, to whet your appetite:
It’s that time of year again, when about half a million people converge on downtown Atlanta for the geekfest that is DragonCon. And TheOneRing.net will of course be there! We can’t wait to see all our friends and to enjoy Middle-earth fun together.
Some of the things which will be happening:
TheOneRing will have a ‘fan table’, as ever, where staffers deej and greendragon will be hard at work! We’ll be in our usual location in the Hyatt hotel, opposite the entrance to the Art Show. Come by and check out the new buttons and two new tshirt designs we’ll be unveiling this year!
TheOneRing.net’s table at the convention. Thanks to all who stopped by!
It’s hard to believe a week has passed already since HobbitCon Vier in Germany. Staffers deej and greendragon were delighted to be there, meeting fellow fans and sharing the fun. As promised, here are some tales of the weekend for those of you who couldn’t be there – or who were there and just want to look back!
HobbitCon was held in the Hotel Maritim in Bonn, April 1-3. Folks started arriving on the Wednesday before, and there was an atmosphere of anticipation as more and more people, often laden with suitcases full of costumes, showed up to be reunited with friends.
On Friday the con officially got underway, and the big ‘kick off’ was the Opening Ceremony that evening. All the guests were invited on stage – TORn’s staff had no idea they would have to speak, but greendragon dusted off her German to say a few words! Of course the crowd was really waiting to see the guest actors; in attendance this year were Mark Atkin, Dallas Barnett, John Bell, Billy Boyd, Jed Brophy, Sadwyn Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Lori Dungey, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Stephen Hunter,William Kircher, Craig Parker and John Tui. Mark Ferguson was a seemingly indefatigable host for the weekend! (You can read full details of all the guests at HobbitCon’s website, here.) Continue reading “HobbitCon 4 – a merry meeting!”
As you know, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies had its world premiere in London last week. Members of the cast and crew gathered in the city, with some of them seeing the film the night before the premiere, but many heading down the red carpet to experience the completed movie for the first time.
TORn Senior Staffer greendragon was there to catch up with the folks in Leicester Square that night. Amongst those who stopped by to chat with her were stars Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen and others, as well as director Peter Jackson and screen writer Philippa Boyens. In addition to hearing what they thought of the film, and how it felt to be at the end of their (long expected? unexpected?) journey, greendragon made sure to invite them all to celebrate at The One Last Party in Los Angeles next February – which, of course, YOU can attend too. (Click here for more information.)
Enjoy this footage from that star-studded night in London:
[Special thanks to cameraman and editor Matthew Rodriguez; should you be looking for a film maker in London, you can reach him at rodriguezrmatthew at gmail.com]
For the previous Hobbit films TheOneRing.net attended press conferences and brought you coverage the best we could. For the last film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” we delivered this transcript. Oh but now, here it all is on video!
