Stephen Colbert joins "The Lord of the Rings" film as writer with his son

Stephen Colbert, a longtime admirer of J. R. R. Tolkien and his Middle-earth universe, is co-writing a new film in the franchise alongside his son.

Warner Bros. announced early Wednesday that Colbert will script The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past together with franchise veteran Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee, Colbert’s son, as per foreign media.

Producer Peter Jackson revealed Colbert’s involvement in a social media video, introducing him as a “very special partner” on the project.

“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,” Colbert told Jackson. “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.”

Colbert explained that the idea for the film emerged from conversations with his son, when he conceived a potential framing device for a story set 14 years after the passing of Frodo. The narrative will follow a new adventure involving Sam, Merry and Pippin.

“You know what the books mean to me, and what your films mean to me,” Colbert said. “But the thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in The Fellowship of the Ring 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?’” he added.

The new film joins a long line of adaptations based on Tolkien’s work, many of them connected to Jackson. Following his original The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he directed a trilogy of prequels based on The Hobbit. He later served as a producer on the 2024 anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Shadow of the Past will arrive after another upcoming project, The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis and also produced by Jackson, which is scheduled for theatrical release next year.

Outside Jackson’s cinematic universe, the franchise has expanded into television with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, an Amazon Prime prequel series unrelated to the films. Widely reported as the most expensive show ever produced when it debuted in 2022, with an estimated cost of around $1 billion, it received generally favourable reviews. Filming for its third season has reportedly concluded, though no release date has been confirmed.

The franchise’s reach extends into gaming as well. Earlier titles such as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and the Middle-earth series of the 2010s were well received, but The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was widely criticized as one of the worst games ever made. Meanwhile, the 2025 cozy title Tales of the Shire, developed by Wētā Workshop, drew more mixed reactions. An unconfirmed report from Insider Gaming suggests another new Lord of the Rings game, potentially designed to rival Hogwarts Legacy, may be in development.

Colbert, a lifelong fan, has frequently showcased his deep knowledge of Tolkien’s world. He has hosted cast and crew members from the film adaptations — including Jackson — on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, often challenging guests with obscure trivia.

To mark the 20th anniversary of The Fellowship of the Ring in 2021, Colbert reunited much of the cast for a rap tribute segment on his show. “Lord of the Rings is, without a doubt, the greatest trilogy in movie history,” he said at the time.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is set to air its final episode on May 21, after CBS announced last July that it would cancel the long-running program.

By Tamilla Hasanova