Stephen Colbert to Write Next ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie Amid Major Career Shift
Late-night host Stephen Colbert is trading his desk behind “The Late Show” for a journey to Middle-earth — this time, as a screenwriter.
Warner Bros. made the surprise announcement on March 25, Tolkien Reading Day, revealing that Colbert has been tapped to write the script for a new film titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past.
The news came by way of a video shared on X featuring “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson, who first provided an update on the franchise’s upcoming film, The Hunt for Gollum, slated for 2027.
“Andy is doing a terrific job. It’s looking amazing,” Jackson said of actor and director Andy Serkis. “The script is coming together really well and I think it’s going to be a really good film.”
But Jackson wasn’t done. He spent several minutes introducing a second project — a film to follow The Hunt for Gollum — and he didn’t make the announcement alone.
A Video Chat Between Friends
Jackson phoned Colbert, a self-proclaimed superfan of the franchise, to deliver the news together over a video chat.
Colbert, who will be entering a new chapter of his career when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert retires on May 21, 2026, was visibly moved by the moment.
“You know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me,” he told Jackson.
Colbert explained that he developed the idea for the film with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, before approaching Jackson about it two years ago. Colbert and McGee then worked with Philippa Boyens on a script.
“It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call,” he said in the video. “But about two years ago, I did. You liked it enough to talk to me about it.”
What We Know About the New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie
The film will focus on chapters three through six from the first “Lord of the Rings” book, The Fellowship of the Ring, and will officially serve as a sequel to the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The logline, according to Variety, reads: “Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo — Sam, Merry and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”
Stephen Colbert Is an LOTR Superfan
While Shadows of the Past marks Colbert’s first foray into blockbuster development, his deep love for J.R.R. Tolkien’s world is well documented.
Jackson himself vouched for Colbert’s knowledge in no uncertain terms.
“I have never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life. His encyclopedic knowledge of Tolkien is spectacular, and points to a deprived childhood in some respects,” Jackson told Entertainment Weekly in 2012.
That fandom has already earned Colbert a place in the cinematic universe. He, along with his wife and kids, made a cameo in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second installment of The Hobbit trilogy.
Colbert also moderated a panel for The Hobbit at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2014. And his involvement goes even deeper: he wrote, directed and starred in Darrylgorn, an eight-minute short film set in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, per Variety.
With The Hunt for Gollum on track for 2027 and Shadows of the Past set to follow, the Lord of the Rings franchise is charting an ambitious path forward — with one of its most passionate fans now helping to shape its future from behind the keyboard.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
