Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Stephen Colbert will cowrite the new "Lord of the Rings" film, he announced on Wednesday.
- Colbert will join series director Peter Jackson for development of the new film, tentatively titled "Shadow of the Past."
- The film explores the unused "Fellowship of the Ring" chapters.
NEW YORK — Stephen Colbert already has a new job lined up for when he ends his 11-year run as host of "The Late Show" in May: The comedian and well-known J.R.R. Tolkien superfan announced he will cowrite and develop a new film in the blockbuster "Lord of the Rings" franchise.
Colbert joined LOTR director Peter Jackson to reveal the news in a video announcement.
"I'm pretty happy about it. … You know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me," the late-night host told Jackson, who led the Oscar-winning team behind the nearly $6 billion original "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies.
It'll be the second of two new upcoming films in the fantasy franchise in production at Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, with New Line Cinema. Warner Bros. shared the video announcement on its social media.
The film is tentatively titled "Shadow of the Past," according to Deadline.
Jackson also gave audiences an update on the next LOTR film, due to be released in 2027, "The Hunt for Gollum," directed by and starring franchise alum Andy Serkis.
Colbert said the next installment will be based on parts of Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" book that didn't make it into the original movies.
"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 … and I thought, 'Oh, wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story,'" he said.
Colbert said he discussed the idea with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, to work out the framing of the story.
"It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile and give you a call, but about two years ago, I did. You liked it enough to talk to me about it," Colbert told Jackson.
Colbert said he, McGee and Jackson have been working alongside screenwriter Philippa Boyens on the development of the story. "I could not be happier to say that they loved it, and so that's what we're going to be working on," Colbert said.
Colbert announced in January the final episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" will air on May 21 after CBS decided last year to cancel the highly rated late-night program, citing financial pressure.
Colbert nodded to the show's upcoming ending in his latest announcement, saying: "It turns out I'm going to be free starting this summer."
It's no secret that Colbert is a longtime fan of the fantasy series, often citing the books and films in his segments. The Tolkien expert also moderated a "Hobbit" panel in full costume during Comic-Con in 2014.
