His upcoming departure from late night sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, but Stephen Colbert has landed on his feet after securing many a man's dream project: writing a new Lord of the Rings film.
The comedian is an avid fan of JRR Tolkien's legendary fantasy series, and frequently talks about them on his talk show; just last week, he ribbed franchise star Elijah Wood for never having read the books. Colbert even popped up in a cameo role in Peter Jackson's 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
It was Jackson who shared the surprise news on Tuesday (24 March) with a video in which he and Colbert announced the project, which Deadline reports is currently titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.
Speaking to Jackson, 64, virtually, Colbert, 61, explained that he'd been re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien's first volume of the epic story, when he found himself fixating on six chapters from the book that had been cut out of Jackson's 2001 film. He then sketched out a plot with his screenwriter son Peter, who appeared in The Hobbit film with him 13 years ago.
“The thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in the Fellowship that y’all never developed into the first movie back in the day,” Colbert told Jackson.
“I thought, wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story. Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies?”
The film will be produced by original franchise producers Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh and will largely focus on the eighth chapter of the book, which is titled “Fogs on the Barrow-downs”. Crucially, the chapter and story will feature Tom Bombadill, a fan-favourite character who was omitted from Jackson's movies, as well as the 1978 animated film and radio adaptations.
This latest on-screen adventure based on Tolkien's stories will follow on from the release of the Andy Serkis-directed Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is due for release in December 2027.
In the video, Colbert alluded to the cancelling of The Late Show, the late-night show he has hosted since 2015. The plug was pulled by Paramount, the parent company of network CBS, in July, just days before the Trump administration approved its merger with David Ellison’s Skydance.
With his final episode of The Late Show airing on 21 May, Colbert joked to Jackson: “It turns out I’m going to be free starting this summer.” “Isn’t that fortunate?” the director sarcastically replied.
