RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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IndieWire is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 IndieWire Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. After Dark How Can 1980’s ‘The Return of the King’ Spoil Everything — and Ruin Nothing? Rankin/Bass’ spectacularly incomplete Tolkien adaptation is still a baffling sequel to behold. By Sarah Shachat , Alison Foreman August 7, 2026 11:59 pm Share Share on Facebook Post google Google Preferred Share on LinkedIn Show more sharing options Share to Flipboard Submit to Reddit Pin it Post to Tumblr Email Print This Page Share on WhatsApp On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark honors fringe cinema in the streaming age with midnight movies from any moment in film history.
First, the BAIT : a weird genre pick, and why we're exploring its specific niche right now. Then, the BITE : a spoiler-filled answer to the all-important question, "Is this old cult film actually worth recommending?"
Note: This is part two of IndieWire After Dark 's three-part animated "Lord of the Rings" series! Have you watched 1977's "The Hobbit" yet?
A fascinating case study for the perils of skipping straight to the good part, 1980's Rankin/Bass musical/fantasy/animated psychedelia TV movie "The Return of the King" doesn't even cover the whole of the final book in J.R.R. Tolkien's " The Lord of the Rings " series. Those who've seen the Peter Jackson films will recognize the Battle of Pelennor Fields and Frodo and Sam's long march to Mount Doom on offer here. Plus, some signature Rankin/Bass folk interludes that have a lot less clarity (or indeed coherence) than the ones in their 1977 telling of "The Hobbit." Related Stories 'Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker' Is the Deranged Cult Slasher Every Horror Fan Should Have on Tap You've Never Met a Horror Host Like 2017's Cryptina: The Luminous Ghost of Short Films Past
If ever there's been a "LOTR" adaptation to be held lightly — split into eighths like a pot brownie and nibbled on rather than devoured — it is this one. Which is not to say "Return of the King" doesn't have its charms. The animation style by Studio Ghibli forerunner Topcraft is a fascinating melange of medievalisms and Art Nouveau: an almost storybook way of rendering this world that can't help but feel rare and beautiful in this, our collapsing Age of "live-action" remakes and Minions spin-offs. The double-edged sword of Jackson's films' staying power is that the aesthetic of them has so imprinted onto "serious" epics and high fantasy stories, from "Game of Thrones" to "The Odyssey," that it's easy to forget other interpretations of Mordor are possible.
"The Return of the King" is very much another interpretation, and as a means of keeping After Dark's revisitation of the IP's animated era ongoing? It's worth preserving for its potential.
As with "The Hobbit," the Rankin/Bass monsters are much less humanoid and more wrinkly wee beasties — both to their benefit and to ours. The one true bop among the musical interludes absolutely has to be the all-orc banger , "Where there's a whip, there's a way." And a lot of the sound effects and voice filtering, especially for the Lord of the Nazgul (John Stephenson), are more sci-fi than fantasy coded, which has a fascinating effect. There's a rendering of Sauron's Eye here that's unhinged and almost unmoored from reality in the best way imaginable. In that sense, it's energizing to see a fantasy story be this openly fantastical.
Unfortunately, "The Return of the King" is also spectacularly uninterested in coherent exposition, tying itself into a plate of pretzel knots just to set the stage. It starts with Bilbo and Frodo Baggins (both Orson Bean, reporting again for duty after voicing Bilbo in "The Hobbit") along with their friend Gandalf the wizard (John Huston; yes, that John Huston), and Frodo's faithful servant Samwise (Roddy McDowell; yes, that Roddy McDowell) sitting around in Rivendell telling old, forgetful Bilbo about their adventures getting rid of his old ring. But also there's a balladeer who starts singing about the quest of the Fellowship of the Ring? And also there's a voiceover?
There's a lot going on — clearly too much to pronounce any of Tolkien's placenames correctly, so just let go of that now, nerds, lest ye despair. No doubt Romeo Muller had legitimate concerns about losing people over the ABC commercial breaks. But man, the first like 20 minutes of this movie are rough going… although, probably not as rough going as poor Sam's attempt to break into Cirith Ungol, where Frodo has been taken captive when our tale within a tale begins.
If I did not know the books well enough to catch when characters are just straight up quoting them verbatim, then I am not sure what I would make of, say, the way that this movie chooses to handle the madness the One Ring can induce — or the introduction of Denethor (William Conrad) only to have him order his own fiery death (but offscreen) like… five minutes later. I'm not sure I'd feel much for King Theoden (Don Messick), who just kinda rides in on a horse only to be bucked off it and die. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Theodore Bikel) is kinda big and buff and beardy, and that's it.
But for worse and, at times, even for better, the main legacy of "The Return of the King" is its incompleteness. It's often mistaken for the sequel to the 1978 Ralph Bakshi "The Lord of the Rings," which adapts the first two parts of Tolkien's epic, "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers." Bakshi and Rankin/Bass developed the projects separately, of course. Bakshi's vision is different, and we'll be exploring that movie next week. But once Warner Brothers had the rights to both, it started packaging both films and "The Hobbit" as a trilogy of sorts. Still, "The Return of the King" feels like its own discrete thing. And it does so, perhaps, in spite of itself.
Given the working title here was once "Frodo, The Hobbit II," the Rankin/Bass team clearly wanted to double down on what had already worked for them. But the 1980 special is...
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