Stephen Colbert has a surprising new gig lined up following his upcoming retirement as host of CBS’s The Late Show on May 21.
The talk show host, 62, and his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, will be adapting the next Lord of the Rings movie from Warner Bros.
The film is currently titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past, and will be written by Colbert, his son and Philippa Boyens.
The announcement came on Tuesday night via the studio’s various social media platforms, with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson joining Colbert for a video call.
Colbert shared that the film will be based on chapters ‘Three Is Company’ through ‘Fog on the Barrow-downs,’ from J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic high-fantasy novel The Fellowship of the Ring.
The story follows the Hobbits as they become trapped by a Barrow-wight in a supernatural fog. It also includes fan-favorite character Tom Bombadil, who was not included in the previous films.
Stephen Colbert, 62, will be adapting the next Lord of the Rings movie, after his upcoming retirement as host of CBS’s The Late Show on May 21; Colbert seen in 2025
Director Peter Jackson originally brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic high-fantasy to life with a film trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003)
The project is set to follow the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
Directed by the man behind Gollum himself, Andy Serkis, The Hunt for Gollum is being adapted by Boyens, Fran Walsh, Arty Papageorgiou, and Phoebe Gittins.
The movie is slated for a December 17, 2027 release.
Meanwhile the official logline for Shadows of the Past 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.’
Speaking to Jackson about the project, Colbert said, ‘You know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me, but 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.’
‘I thought, Oh 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 that you guys had already made?’
‘And I started talking it over with my son Peter, who’s also a screenwriter, and we worked out what we thought would work, especially as a framing device for that story,’ he added.
‘It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call, but about two years ago I did. You liked it enough to talk to me about it, and ever since then, the two of us have been working with the brilliant Philippa Boyens on how to develop this story.’
The Late Show host is teaming up with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, and Philippa Boyens to pen the script; Colbert pictured with his son Peter in 2015
The announcement came on Tuesday night via Warner Bros. studio’s various social media platforms, with Jackson joining Colbert for a video call. The film is currently titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past
The announcement kicked off with an update on Andy Serkis’s The Hunt for Gollum, which is the next chapter in the franchise
The movie will be Colbert’s first major leap into film development.
However, it’s not his first time working with Jackson. Colbert made a cameo The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) alongside his son, where they played hooded Laketown spies.
He also directed Jackson, along with franchise icons Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, and Elijah Wood, in the 2019 Middle-earth-themed short Darrylgorn.
Along with their son Peter, born around 1998, Colbert and wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert are parents to daughter Madeleine and younger son John.
Colbert’s son’s writing portfolio features a range of high-profile TV and film projects, including Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Outer Banks, The Righteous Gemstones and Blue Bloods.
Meanwhile, Boyens has helped pen Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as the Hobbit films along with Walsh.
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the The Lord of the Rings in the 1950s, following the success of his 1937 book The Hobbit.
Decades later, Jackson brought the saga to life with a film trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003).
The Lord of The Rings trilogy earned a staggering 17 Academy Awards; Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and Ian Mckellen seen in a still from The Two Towers
Combined, the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies have grossed over $5.9 billion worldwide
The films earned a staggering 17 Academy Awards, 11 of which were given to The Return of the King.
Jackson later returned to Middle-earth to adapt The Hobbit into its own trilogy: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).
Combined, the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies have grossed over $5.9 billion worldwide.
Colbert’s passion for Tolkien is well-documented, and his credentials include hosting Comic-Con panels for both the 2014 Hobbit finale and the Amazon TV series.
