Saruman than in their equivalent books, and he appears in several scenes that are not depicted in Tolkien's work. In the films, Saruman is depicted presenting himself outright as a servant of Sauron. Smith and Matthews suggest that Saruman's role is built up as a substitute for Sauron—the story's main antagonist—who never appears directly in the book. Jackson confirms this view in the commentary to the DVD. They also suggest that having secured veteran British horror actor Christopher Lee to play Saruman, it made sense to make greater use of his star status. Despite this increased role in the first two
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North film series from Electronic Arts, and in May 2009 they had acquired the rights to make games based on the literary series from Vivendi Universal Games. With Warner holding the rights to both intellectual properties, it meant New Line Cinema and Middle-earth Enterprises were both involved in the game. "War in the North" was the second Warner "Lord of the Rings" game, after "", but the first for which they possessed the rights for both the films and the books ("Aragorn's Quest" was based exclusively on the films). In their earliest press release for the game, Warner said "War in