Stephen Colbert has bagged a major Hollywood gig just weeks before CBS airs his final late-night episode.
The TV veteran will develop a new Lord of the Rings movie for Warner Bros. Studio, collaborating with his son and LOTR screenwriter Philippa Boyens.
Colbert and LOTR director Peter Jackson made the announcement in a joint video statement released by the studio. Jackson, 64, said a “very special partner” will develop the next film after The Hunt for Gollum, an upcoming addition to the series coming in 2027. Colbert, 61, patched into the call, telling Jackson, “You know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me.”
The late-night host revealed that his film will be based on the chapters from The Fellowship of the Ring, J. R. R. Tolkien’s first book in the LOTR trilogy, which Jackson’s Fellowship film did not include. Colbert, a die-hard Tolkien fan, shared that this section runs from Chapter 3, ″Three Is Company," to Chapter 8, “Fog on the Barrow-Downs.”
“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 said.
Colbert and his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, developed a “framing device” for the selected chapters. Two years later, Colbert said he finally struck up the “courage” to bring the film to Jackson. The late-night host said he “could not be happier” to announce that the executives at Warner Bros. Studio also “loved it.”
The film is tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.
The TV veteran is an avid superfan of The Lord of the Rings who can recite entire Tolkien passages from memory, making his upcoming film a natural next step. Jackson and Colbert have collaborated previously, with the latter appearing alongside his family in Jackson’s 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
The announcement is the first indication of what The Late Show host will pursue after CBS cancelled the beloved comedian’s show last summer.
“It turns out, I’m going to be free starting this summer!” Colbert quipped. “Isn’t that fortunate?” Jackson joked back.
CBS announced the show’s cancellation just days after Colbert blasted Paramount, the network’s parent company, for settling a $16 million lawsuit with President Donald Trump. The late-night host dubbed the settlement a “big fat bribe."
CBS executives said the cancellation is “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
Colbert took the reins of The Late Show in September 2015, succeeding longtime host David Letterman. His final episode will air on Thursday, May 21.
“So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to finish the television show, and I’ve got to write a movie script,” Colbert concluded in his announcement, addressing fans. “But I will see you all in the Shire.”
