Stephen Colbert To Write Next 'Lord of the Rings' Movie (cnn.com)
- Reference: 0181102346
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/26/03/25/1730218/stephen-colbert-to-write-next-lord-of-the-rings-movie
- Source link: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/25/entertainment/colbert-lord-of-the-rings-hnk
> Stephen Colbert already has a new job lined up for when he ends his 11-year run as host of "The Late Show" in May -- the comedian and well-known J.R.R. Tolkien superfan announced he will [1]co-write and develop a new film in the blockbuster "Lord of the Rings" franchise . Colbert joined "LOTR" director Peter Jackson to reveal the news in a [2]video announcement .
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> "I'm pretty happy about it. You know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me," the late-night host told Jackson, who led the Oscar-winning team behind the nearly $6 billion original "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" trilogies. [...] Colbert said the next installment will be based on parts of Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" book that didn't make it into the original movies. "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.
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> Colbert said he discussed the idea with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, to work out the framing of the story. "It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile and give you a call, but about two years ago, I did. You liked it enough to talk to me about it," Colbert told Jackson. Colbert said he, McGee and Jackson have been working alongside screenwriter Philippa Boyens on the development of the story. "I could not be happier to say that they loved it, and so that's what we're going to be working on," Colbert said.
Colbert's LOTR movie, tentatively titled " [3]Shadow of the Past ," will be the second of [4]two new upcoming films in the franchise from Warner Bros. Discovery. The first of which is called " [5]The Hunt for Gollum " due to be released in 2027.
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/25/entertainment/colbert-lord-of-the-rings-hnk
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMHh4L2626A
[3] https://deadline.com/2026/03/stephen-colbert-lord-of-the-rings-1236764923/
[4] https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/23/02/24/2210245/new-lord-of-the-rings-movies-set-at-warner-bros
[5] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32328070/
So.... (Score:2)
It doesn't really match the types of things he usually writes for. Kind of a fish out of water scenario. Maybe this comes from the "anything has to be better than recent LOTR shows" bucket.
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yeah, a bit worried about this one. I like Colbert he is funny and sharp, but don't know about his screen writing chops. Also, please do not cast aged actors past their prime. Please.
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> Also, please do not cast aged actors past their prime. Please.
What do you mean? The main Hobbits are usually portrayed by younger actors. Gandalf should be portrayed by an older actor. Elves should be somewhere in between. If everyone is young it looks dumb.
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I hear Tom Selleck is being cast for Galadriel.
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I think he was talking about casting Orlando Bloom to play a younger Legolas ten years after he portrayed him. It was unnecessary as The Hobbit book did not feature Legolas. It has been a while since I read the book, but I only remember Legolas being mentioned briefly in the book.
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When the original LOTR films were announced people were extremely skeptical and I mean for good reason, up until then Jackson was known as a horror-comedy-schlock director with one compelling drama movie under his belt. Sounds like a recipe for disaster no?
Very few film scripts make it from a typewriter to the screen without involvement for other people no matter what the credits say. Star Wars 1977 has one credited writer and we all know the story of how much help Lucas had when it came time to actually
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I was skeptical because I thought there was far too much in the books to fit into a movie, i.e. it would take at least 10 movies to cover the entire Trilogy. Apparently I was wrong, and they made smart choice about what they could cut out without ruining the story. But then, I'm not a LotR expert like Colbert.
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I'll admit I had a really hard time accepting the original theatrical release as I had just finished the books. They cut out a decent amount. The further I got away from when I read the book, the more entertaining the movies became. I really enjoyed the extended versions as well.
If you are married to a given book series, no film will ever do it justice. If you read the book 20 years ago, you probably forgot half the book(s) anyway.
My best example would be The Wheel of Time series. It's far to large to ever
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Wasn't cancelling the Ring for being a symbol of systemic oppression was the whole plot of Lord of the Rings?
Wasn't Colbert's Late Show was highly political from day one as Colbert was brought in from his 100% political show The Colbert Report?
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I thought the Ring was a metaphor for technology/industrial revolution etc. not generically all oppression.
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The entire volume was an allegory of West versus East, despite Tolkien claiming otherwise. I enjoyed it, overall.
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No. Actually he wasn't political from day one on the Late Show. At first he shed his Colbert Report persona and tried to do the typical "make nice with everyone" late night host a la Carson, Leno, and Letterman. Thing is, times were changing, audiences were expecting and demanding sharper wit, speaking truth to power, and takedowns of the high and mighty. And ratings started to slide. So Colbert adapted, brought elements of the Report back, but more overt and open than the playing th coy in-character pe
Just like Jordan Peele? (Score:4, Insightful)
> Finally, the untold story of how the Hobbits discovered microaggressions and how the Ring got canceled for being a symbol of systemic oppression. Shadow of the Past? Perfect title â" itâ(TM)s literally the shadow that swallowed Colbertâ(TM)s once-great Late Show, the one that started hilarious and then slowly petered out under an avalanche of politics until half the audience ghosted it for good. Middle-earth just got Colbertâ(TM)d. Hard pass.
Are you really that clueless? Comedy is a profession and a day job for people like him. He's a devout Catholic and family man and none of his material suggests that...why?...because he's a fucking professional. He's writing jokes for his audience, not himself. Colbert is a very intelligent man with a huge passion for Tolkein and that universe. Historically, writing styles are not consistent between genres. Look at Jordan Peele. Key and Peele was a good sketch show. I enjoyed it, but not in my top 5...not even sure if it's my top 10 of the last 20 years, but his horror films were amazing and NOTHING like his sketch shows.
Colbert is a professional. He writes with that perspective because he thinks its funny and he has an audience that appreciates that. Look at Colbert report...a very sharp satire that was nothing like what you described. It just made fun of the ridiculousness of your politics, rather than really expressing much of its own view.
Shitty writers do what they know. You may disagree with Colbert's politics, but he's not a shitty writer. He will adapt to the project.
I am not much of a Tolkein fan...it's fine...not my top choice, but I always enjoy the movies. He is a HUGE fan. My guess is that he will apply every bit of intellect he has to replicate Tolkein and give the most Tolkein-ian experience and it will look nothing like his old work.
My prediction is Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Ring will reflect his perception of what his audience wants and what the spirit of Tolkein is and would never know he wrote it based on his past comedy work. Just like how Jordan Peele's comedy doesn't reflect his horror writing.
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> My guess is that he will apply every bit of intellect he has to replicate Tolkein and give the most Tolkein-ian experience and it will look nothing like his old work.
In other words, a screenplay indistinguishable from the output of a LLM trained on the entirety of Tolkien's works, basically. No wonder Hollywood types are worried about their jobs.
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>> My guess is that he will apply every bit of intellect he has to replicate Tolkein and give the most Tolkein-ian experience and it will look nothing like his old work.
> In other words, a screenplay indistinguishable from the output of a LLM trained on the entirety of Tolkien's works, basically. No wonder Hollywood types are worried about their jobs.
In other words, grunting pan-flute upwards but absolute mist pointedly because gravitational fodder of spool children (the darkest submarine), before we flabbergasted.
Dude, the format "in other words, [stuff that bears no resemblance to what was said]" doesn't convince anyone of anything.*
* Except when I do it.
I guess we'll never have entertainment then? (Score:2)
>> My guess is that he will apply every bit of intellect he has to replicate Tolkein and give the most Tolkein-ian experience and it will look nothing like his old work.
> In other words, a screenplay indistinguishable from the output of a LLM trained on the entirety of Tolkien's works, basically. No wonder Hollywood types are worried about their jobs.
By your logic, there would be no new electronic music. You don't need an LLM to generate EDM from algorithms based on what clubbers respond to. We had the technology 30 years ago and yet it's a thriving genre. Time will tell, but I imagine the 2 biggest and most famous fans of Tolkein can best an LLM slopping together a story. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the LLM to help them or to judge their work. That would be a smart use of technology. However, the human touch and vision will be clea
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Ehhh..I agree with you on many points - K&P was great, Colbert is a professional, and Colbert Report was hilarious, but the long downward spiral of his talk show is enough to give one pause. I’m sure he didn’t write it all but no doubt directed the material, and how could he not see the shift away from actually trying to be funny? We have enough sources to turn to for political adversaries, and what struck me was there always seemed a clear hilarious and non-partisan way to make fun of whate
Yeah, and Ben Shapiro ignores my advice too!!! (Score:2)
> Colbert is a professional, and Colbert Report was hilarious, but the long downward spiral of his talk show is enough to give one pause. I’m sure he didn’t write it all but no doubt directed the material, and how could he not see the shift away from actually trying to be funny? We have enough sources to turn to for political adversaries, and what struck me was there always seemed a clear hilarious and non-partisan way to make fun of whatever Trump was doing, but it was also clear to everyone what they put out was incensed political opposition with god-awful attempts at humor taped on top. Let’s not pretend a lot of writers haven’t used major IP avenues to preach their own version of what they believe, rather than what is entertaining. Let’s hope it doesn’t go this route.
His audience loves that. He has a team of writers. The late show is a corporate product, not an artistic one. He's at the helm, but it's less of a reflection of his personal ideas and more what his producers think the audience wants. You don't like it? Well...it has a huge audience...and you're not one of them. It's like Sean Hannity, Ben Shapiro, Guttfeld, the Critical Drinker Twat, etc. Their shows fucking suck and are shittily written...but they have their audiences and they love it.
Guttfeld w
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You triggered bro?
Fun fact when everyone started wearing red hats right winger is complained about all the dirty looks they got. I mean they were throwing there a lot in with a well-known rapist and pedophile. And this was before Trump announced he would go to hell.
You do know those dirty looks that everyone wearing the Red hats complained about, what they were was you see, those were microaggressions.
So every time you go out in your red hat and you take it off and put it away because everyone ke
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Rob Reiner started out as a sitcom actor and made many great movies.
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There will be female elves beating up everything: orcs, male elves, male humans, dragons, horses, barrels of ale. Everything.
Also, girl Legolas. Bet that.
Might have made a good date movie, if anyone still went on dates.
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Wait... are you saying the original Legolas, with that long blond hair, wasn't a girl???
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It was male. However, it was also gay, as Colbert will reveal.
Gay elves, gay hobbits. You'll see.
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Private Frost: Hey, I sure wouldn't mind getting some more of that Arcturian poontang! Remember that time?
Private Spunkmeyer: Yeah, Frost, but the one that you had was a male!
Private Frost: It doesn't matter when it's Arcturian, baby!
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I swear you just about described what the Hobbit movies were.
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> Frodo and Sam are a couple.
[1]That ship has sailed. [time.com] I mean they did everything together in the original films except knock boots in a tent Brokeback Mountain style, so...
[1] https://entertainment.time.com/2009/03/20/top-10-movie-bromances/slide/sam-and-frodo/
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Shame the movie totally left out that Sam was employed by Frodo. It literally got one line in the second movie when Faramie says"Are you his body guard?" Sam replies "I'm his gardener." The original LOTR had a lot more of the worker class and capital class conflicts in it.
Oh, and Bert and Ernie were gay too, right? Of course, from a kids perspective, they were kids themselves and kids have sleep overs and *gasps* share the same bed. Guess they are all gay. It's just hogwash.
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New conservative fantasy unlocked. Trans hobbits.
Why? Please, why? There are so many excellent ... (Score:2)
... Fantasy worlds out there that would look epic as a AAA fantasy blockbuster triology. Raymond E. Feist comes to mind. Bernard Hennen, Guy Gavrial Kay, Brandon Sanderson and countless other top-shelf fantasy authors and epic worlds. Can't we just leave LOTR be? It's gotten an excellent film adaption, one that will stand the test of time if it doesn't get diluted with trash like it already partially has. Please stop right now.
I think we may be truly witnessing the dawn of western culture and it effing hurt
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This one way to keep him nice about being censored...
He's a super nerd on lord of the rings. Not sure this will turn out well except Jackson will tone it down like he did the books... but hopefully not pad it out extremely like he did the Hobbit. Perhaps this is the job-- make the padding not so bad as they stretch out more and more from little.
Interesting his son took his mother's last name.
I wonder if Lord Trump orders this project scrapped out of spite? It could happen and likely would if the Eye of Tr
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What "excellent film adaptation" are you talking about? There's one old animated adaptation, and that's is. There's also a movie that bears the same title, but it's apparently a coincidence: nothing except the title and names of some of main characters matches, thus I don't see how it could be relevant to Tolkien's books.
The first thing about adapting a book is reading it at least once, and Peter Jackson skipped that step.
I love LOTR but... (Score:2)
> Colbert's LOTR movie, tentatively titled "Shadow of the Past," will be the second of two new upcoming films in the franchise from Warner Bros. Discovery.
...I'm not giving Ellison and his cronies even a single penny
Could it be good? (Score:2)
Colbert is a noted Tolkien fanatic, I never watched much of him but sheerly through internet osmosis I know he loves the property. He's also been getting into adapting fiction, owning the rights to and trying to a produce a series from The Chronicles of Amber, one of the major inspirations for Game of Thrones. I guess I don't know if he has any skill at writing narrative fiction, but unlike the dreadful LOTR TV show produciton he's at least got the enthusiasm and appreciation for the subject matter.
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Exactly. I've never watched him in any form, but I do remember him from the BTS of the Hobbit, and some internet videos showcasing his knowledge. He's a real fan. That's really what LOTR needs.
If Peter Jackson is attached, I'd watch it.
He's going to Kathleen Kennedy the LOTR (Score:2)
Can you short a franchise?
I have no idea how this will turn out, but (Score:2)
I have heard Colbert talk about the LOTR universe before, and I swear he has even the hundreds of pages of those LOTR appendices memorized (if you've got the books, you know what I'm referring to). He really is a Tolkien super-fanboy.
Will it have Ewoks? (Score:2)
A little poetic license can only help, and they're so cute
Still a shame (Score:2)
It's still a big shame Amazon didn't hire (or wasn't allowed to by the Tolkien estate) Peter Jackson for Rings of Power, it would have been so much better as it is now (still wonder how these nobodies got to do this billion dollar series).
Colbert is Too Openly Partisan for This (Score:1)
We've all seen it where openly partisan writers or directors, especially Netflix and Disney, incorporate their politics into their movies or shows and destroy their essence in the process such as taking the audience on irrelevant side quests exploring sexuality or gender and add zero context to the plot and take up way too much screen time. Hopefully Colbert can be impartial and write in a way that is purely converting the books into a script.
Virtue signal (Score:1)
This is from the Kurtzman school of film. Virtue signal, create woke garbage, and anyone who doesn't like it is ist. The purpose is demoralization, not money-making.
Re:wHY? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, honey, we ALL need a hug right now!
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They want to turn it into Star Wars. Ugh...
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And just like star wars, we can stop watching. I have the original 3 movies, extended versions of course, and I have the 3 hobbit movies (not as good but still decent enough). I agree that amazon's content was shallow and just abusing the IP. It was entertaining enough, but only because I was less familiar with that part of the lore.
Even though I'm a big LOTR fan, I'm happy to ignore future releases. I do the same with Star Wars. As far as I'm concerned, only 6 movies were made and I'm not missing anything
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> and I have the 3 hobbit movies (not as good but still decent enough).
Really? REALLY?!?
Because the movies I remember watching were complete and utter departures from Tolkien's writing. They were nothing like the book, and were terrible as a result.
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Yeah, everyone said that about Star Wars episodes 1-3 also. They were still entertaining.
I do agree with you they were departures from the books though. Big time. The original LOTR were much closer and even they departed from the books as well.
I'm just not THAT big a fan of the books. Sure, I've read them all but that was twenty years ago. I do however completely understand your position and can also totally understand why you feel precisely the way you do.
It's how I felt when amazon did what they did with
Re: because (Score:2)
Well, episodes 1 and 2 were anyway
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Before he went political? We're talking about Colbert? Of... the Colbert Report?
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He was trying to be funny back then. People from both parties liked him. Now, he just seems toxic and angry. I guess people change. Either way, I'd love to know how the hell he ended up with a LotR movie. That's a lot of money to risk with a guy that isn't a good fit for this. After Amazon, we really don't need more failures.
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Hmm....why in my head am I picturing the dancing Syringes of Mordor.....??
Re: because (Score:2)
Too much exposure to faux news probably
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> That said Colbert doesn't know jack about screenwriting, it is like nothing else, not even writing novels (look at how JK Rowling did when she tried to write screenplays instead of novels) so I would question how much input he's really going to have.
The headline threw me, then I saw his son, whom is a screenwriter, is attached as well. Then I looked up his son's credits on IMDB. He was a production assistant on one of Colbert's shows and.... that's it.
I hope it will be good, but it's not looking that way.
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Jackson is also the director of the bad movies, just sayin'.
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The real question is how much studio interference will there be? A reason The Hobbit trilogy was terrible was it was a trilogy. But the trilogy was mandated by the studio. There was simply not enough material to make 3 movies only 2. Another reason was the studio interference drove away Guillermo Del Toro who was originally supposed to direct the trilogy. Peter Jackson had to step in as he was the head of the production company. Instead of years he had to plan for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson had
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> ... plus the world's best known Tolkien expert is a way to signal that the movie will stick to truth.
Dress it up however you like - it's still fan fiction. When you're dealing with a dead author, the correct approach is to write something original that pays homage to older works of the genre.
Imagine if we'd just kept endlessly reusing Shakespeare's characters and worlds over and over, rather than writing anything new.
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> The LOTR "franchise" has lost all credibility thanks to Amazon. Bringing back the director of the good movies plus the world's best known Tolkien expert is a way to signal that the movie will stick to truth. That said Colbert doesn't know jack about screenwriting, it is like nothing else, not even writing novels (look at how JK Rowling did when she tried to write screenplays instead of novels) so I would question how much input he's really going to have. If I had to guess, it would be about as much input as George RR Martin has on his TV series, i.e., he attends a few meetings with writers and then fucks off and cashes his check.
I think Colbert's kid is a screenwriter and is going to be "helping," i.e. actually doing the writing, in this project. Colbert is most likely just gonna be the nerd providing the backbone.
That said, I don't know if screenwriting matters anymore. These things have to pass through so many different committees and meet so many different agendas before they get to the shooting stage that the writer has about as much say over the final product as the metal miners have over where the final bolts get set in a veh
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Money, obviously. After the dead of Christopher Tolkien, the Tolkien estate has taken to IP-mining to a degree that Disney would be ashamed of.