Stephen Colbert’s Wizardly Next Act: Co-Writing a New “Lord of the Rings” Movie
Talk about conjuring up a great new gig—Stephen Colbert and Peter Jackson revealed that The Late Show host and longtime “Lord of the Rings” super-fan is penning a new Lord of the Rings film. Colbert will co-write the script with Oscar-winner Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee, which will follow Andy Serkis’ The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is scheduled to start production in New Zealand later this year.
The surprise news came courtesy of an Instagram post in which Peter Jackson revealed Colbert’s involvement.
“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,” Colbert said in the video. “It’s basically chapters ‘Three Is Company’ through ‘Fog on the Barrow-downs,’ and 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?’…And I started talking it over with my son Peter, who’s also a screenwriter, and we worked out what we thought would work, especially as a framing device for that story. 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. 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.”
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This is the first big move Colbert has announced since he revealed last year that The Late Show was being canceled, and will air its final episode on May 21.
The film that Colbert, Boyens, and McGee are penning has a current working title of The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, and will follow Serkis’ The Hunt for Gollum, which will feature not only Serkis’ return as the titular ring-obsessed former hobbit, but Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf and, potentially, Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins. Kate Winslet has joined the cast in an undisclosed role.
The synopsis for the script Colbert, Boyens, and McGee are working on reads: “Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”
Meanwhile, The Hunt for Gollum is set between The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and follows Aragorn and Gandalf’s quest to find Gollum and learn more about Bilbo’s ring, the most consequential piece of jewelry in the history of Middle-earth. The Hunt for Gollum is due in theaters on December 17, 2027.
Featured image: WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 14: Stephen Colbert attends the Apple TV+’s Primetime Emmy Party Red Carpet at Ysabel on September 14, 2025 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
