Talk show host Stephen Colbert, who is set to leave his late night show in May after being cancelled by CBS, has revealed what the next project he is working on is. In a surprising move, Colbert is co-writing a new film in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise with his son Peter McGee and veteran Philippa Boyens, who previously worked on both “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies.
Stephen Colbert Working on ‘Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past’
Colbert is a self-proclaimed superfan of the “Lord of the Rings” and has previously hosted events featuring Peter Jackson and spoken about his love of the series to cast from the films. The revelation came in a video posted to Instagram by the official account of the franchise and was shared by Colbert to his own personal account.
In the clip, Colbert describes the new film as “its own story that could fit into the larger story” but that it will remain “completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys had already made.”
The movie will see Colbert and the other writers adapting chapters from “The Fellowship of the Ring” that were not shown in the original trilogy. This is mainly material taken directly from chapters three to eight of the novel. It will follow “Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” which acts as a prequel to the trilogy and is being directed by Andy Serkis.
The film’s official synopsis gives an idea of how the film will frame the action from a new perspective. It 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.”
Stephen Colbert Explains His Motivation for Developing the New Story
GettySpeaking to Jackson, Colbert revealed why he wanted to create this new film and his motivation for the story.
“You know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me, 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,” Colbert told Jackson.
He added, “I thought, 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?”
“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 I could not be happier that [Warner Bros.] loved it,” he explained. “As much as I love it, I knew I couldn’t do that [film] and do the show at the same time. But it turns out I’m going to be free starting this summer.”
