Stephen Colbert is finally getting to make his dream Lord of the Rings movie, and it’s exactly the kind of obsessive fan project that only someone with his particular blend of celebrity, resources, and encyclopedic Tolkien knowledge could pull off.
After years of dropping hints, hosting Comic-Con panels, and generally making it clear that he knows more about Middle-earth than most of the actors who have actually lived there, Colbert has partnered with Peter Jackson and screenwriter Philippa Boyens to create The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past—a film that adapts the chapters Jackson never got to film while creating a framing device that brings back the original hobbits for one last adventure .
The announcement came via video call with Jackson, where Colbert—whose Late Show tenure ends May 21st—explained that he’s been working on this for two years. “You know what the books mean to me, and what your films mean to me,” Colbert told Jackson. “But the thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in The Fellowship that y’all never developed into the first movie back in the day” .
Those chapters—”Three Is Company” through “Fog on the Barrow-downs”—are the holy grail for Tolkien purists. They contain the Old Forest, where the trees themselves are hostile and malevolent. They contain Tom Bombadil, the enigmatic nature spirit who rescues the hobbits and remains one of the most mysterious characters in all of Middle-earth, a being so ancient and powerful that the One Ring has no effect on him.
They contain the Barrow-downs, where the hobbits are trapped by undead Barrow-wights in an unnatural fog, facing death in a landscape that feels like a nightmare. These are the elements that book fans have mourned for twenty years, the corners of Middle-earth that Jackson’s films had to skip in the interest of narrative momentum.
But Colbert isn’t just making a direct adaptation. He’s created a framing device that transforms this into both a sequel and a prequel: 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 .
This structure allows for the return of Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd as Sam, Merry, and Pippin, now older and presumably wiser, walking the paths of their youth with the weight of memory and loss. It also introduces a new generation to Middle-earth through Elanor, Sam’s daughter, who represents the future of the Shire while investigating its past. Colbert worked out this framing device with his son, Peter McGee, a screenwriter, before pitching it to Jackson—a collaboration that suggests this project is as much about family legacy as it is about fan service.
The collaboration between Colbert and Jackson represents a meeting of two of Tolkien’s most devoted modern interpreters. Colbert brings his encyclopedic knowledge—he once stumped Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd with obscure trivia during a Late Show appearance—and his genuine passion for the material. Jackson brings the visual language and storytelling expertise that defined the original trilogy.
Boyens, who co-wrote the original films, provides continuity and institutional memory, ensuring that Shadow of the Past feels like a natural extension of the cinematic Middle-earth rather than a cash grab.
For fans who felt betrayed by The Rings of Power’s loose adaptation of the lore, Colbert’s involvement offers reassurance that someone who actually cares about the text is in charge. This is not a studio mandate or a cynical IP extension; this is a lifelong fan finally getting to play in his favorite sandbox, with the original architect’s blessing. The fact that Colbert is doing this immediately after leaving his late-night platform suggests he views this as the next chapter of his career, not a side project.
The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past will follow The Hunt for Gollum, Andy Serkis’s 2027 film, suggesting that Warner Bros. is building a new phase of Middle-earth cinema that balances nostalgia with new stories. If Colbert’s film succeeds, it could open the door for more fan-driven projects, more adaptations of Tolkien’s appendices and unfinished tales, more opportunities to explore the corners of Middle-earth that the original trilogy had to bypass.
Plus, we might finally see Tom Bombadil on screen. After twenty years of waiting, that’s worth the price of admission alone.
Return to Middle-earth—see The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past when it hits theaters and witness Stephen Colbert’s lifelong dream finally come to life.
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