Warner Bros. chose Tolkien Reading Day, March 24, 2026, to reveal that Stephen Colbert will leave The Late Show on May 21, 2026, and begin work on a new Lord of the Rings film. The project, tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, will adapt chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring that have never been brought to screen.
Peter Jackson revealed the news through a YouTube video that leaned into the absurdity of the moment, with Colbert appearing on a video call hiding behind a copy of the book. For anyone who had followed Colbert’s career closely, the reaction was less shock and more recognition. This was always where he was headed.
A fan who knew the material cold
Colbert’s relationship with Tolkien’s work is not the kind that gets manufactured for a press release. For years he demonstrated an almost scholarly command of the books, referencing obscure passages in interviews and hosting panels at Comic-Con dedicated to the franchise. He also made a cameo in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, something that does not happen unless a studio trusts that a person’s enthusiasm is genuine.
The creative idea behind Shadow of the Past came from Colbert’s repeated reading of chapters 3 through 8 of The Fellowship of the Ring, covering ‘Three Is Company’ through ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs.’ These chapters include the hobbits’ encounter with a Barrow-wight and the introduction of Tom Bombadil, a figure so beloved and narratively peculiar that Jackson left him out of the original trilogy entirely. Colbert’s argument, developed first with his son Peter McGee, was that this material could stand alone as its own story while remaining faithful to both the books and the existing films.
The team and the story
Colbert is co-writing the screenplay alongside Philippa Boyens, who shared Oscar wins for her work on all three films in the original trilogy. Jackson and Fran Walsh are involved creatively, with WingNut Films, Spartina Industries and Warner Bros. backing the project.
The film is set 14 years after the passing of Frodo. Sam, Merry and Pippin retrace the earliest steps of their original journey while a parallel story follows Sam’s daughter Elanor, who uncovers a buried secret about how close the War of the Ring came to being lost before it properly began. The structure gives the film both the nostalgic weight of returning characters and the forward momentum of a new generation entering the story.
The Late Show and the door it opened
CBS announced in July 2025 that The Late Show would conclude in May 2026, citing financial pressures rather than performance concerns. The show had remained competitive throughout Colbert’s tenure, but declining advertising revenue and shifting audience habits toward streaming had made late-night television increasingly difficult to sustain at scale.
The end of the show cleared the space Colbert needed. A screenplay set inside one of the most intricate fictional universes in literary history is not something written between monologue rehearsals, and Colbert acknowledged as much when the project was announced.
The bigger picture for Middle-earth
Shadow of the Past arrives alongside another major return to Tolkien’s world. Andy Serkis is directing and starring in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, scheduled for release on December 17, 2027. Ian McKellen has teased that both Gandalf and Frodo appear in that film, while Elijah Wood declined to confirm his involvement while making clear he had no interest in anyone else playing the role.
No casting has been announced for Shadow of the Past, though the story’s focus on Sam, Merry and Pippin has fueled speculation about the return of Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd. The original trilogy earned 17 Academy Awards and, combined with The Hobbit films, the franchise has grossed more than $5.9 billion worldwide. The audience waiting for a return to that world remains as large as ever.
