Stephen Colbert to Co-Write Recent Lord of the Rings Film After ‘Late Show’ Exit OR Colbert Lands Lord of the Rings Role After ‘Late Show’ Finale OR Lord of the Rings: Stephen Colbert Joins Peter Jackson for New Film

Stephen Colbert, soon to conclude his 11-year tenure hosting “The Late Indicate,” will co-write a latest film in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, it was announced Tuesday. The comedian and lifelong J.R.R. Tolkien enthusiast will collaborate with director Peter Jackson, screenwriter Philippa Boyens, and Colbert’s son, Peter McGee, on the project.

The news was revealed in a video posted on social media, with Colbert expressing his excitement to Jackson. “I’m pretty happy about it… you know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me,” Colbert said, according to a statement released by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.

The film, tentatively titled “The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past,” will be the second of two new installments in the blockbuster franchise, following “The Hunt for Gollum,” directed by Andy Serkis. According to Deadline, the new film will be set 14 years after the passing of Frodo Baggins, focusing on Sam, Merry, and Pippin as they revisit the early stages of their journey. A key plotline will involve Sam’s daughter, Elanor, uncovering a secret that sheds light on the near-loss of the War of the Ring before it truly began.

Colbert explained that the film’s narrative will draw from six chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” that were not adapted into Jackson’s original film trilogy. “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.

The project marks a return to Middle-earth for Jackson and Boyens, who previously collaborated on the critically acclaimed and commercially successful “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies. Colbert’s involvement reflects his deep and well-documented passion for Tolkien’s work; he famously moderated a “Hobbit” panel at Comic-Con in 2014 whereas dressed in costume.

Colbert announced in January that his final episode of “The Late Show” will air on May 21, following CBS’s decision last year to cancel the program, citing financial pressures. He alluded to this transition in the announcement, stating, “it turns out I’m going to be free starting this summer.”

Warner Bros. Has not yet announced a firm release date for “The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past,” but “The Hunt for Gollum” is currently slated for release in 2027.