Surprising news broke late yesterday that TV host Stephen Colbert and his son are going to write the next The Lord of the Rings movie, titled Shadows of the Past for WB. Colbert is a well known Tolkien nerd. I consider myself up there with the most knowledgeable of Tolkien nerds and I think Colbert is beyond me in terms of his memorized knowledge of the mythology. However, writing serious drama is not what one would expect from Colbert.

Here’s the details as per Variety,

‘Warner Bros. has revealed that Stephen Colbert and his son are developing a brand new “Lord of the Rings” movie. The announcement came Tuesday night via the studio’s various social media accounts.’

If you’d rather watch EP Peter Jackson and Colbert explain for themselves, here’s the announcement video.

In honor of Tolkien Reading Day and the destruction of the One Ring, we bring you a special announcement. pic.twitter.com/ufh9RLBIxO

— Warner Bros. (@warnerbros) March 25, 2026

So, we know it’s the next film in a rumored trilogy that begins with The Hunt for Gollum. Clearly now we know they are not a continual narrative but a trilogy of movies set in the same universe as the films with likely mostly recast roles.

The plan being to squeeze out the little details which were cut from the novels when adapting the original trilogy. I guess the one advantage this movie would have is far more actual Tolkien to adapt. The story of Hunt for Gollum was told as a backstory, but what Colbert is planning is more akin to adding cut scenes.

RELATED: Rumored Synopsis For The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum Has Sneaked Up | Barside Buzz

Specifically, Frodo selling Bag End and moving to Buckland to disguise his imminent departure, right through the Tom Bombadil chapters in the Old Forest and then the Barrow Downs. The one issue I can see is that the book did include one or two small scenes of this journey. The whole farmer Maggot and the meeting of Merry and Pippin and the first black rider are in these chapters Colbert refers to. The movie also had Frodo and Sam accidentally run into Merry and Pippin stealing Mushrooms. Whereas in the book, Frodo meets both as planned in Buckland and they reason out what he’s up to and ask to be allowed to go with him.

The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past will be the film’s title and that’s actually a strange title given the chapter ‘Shadow of the past’ is what happens in Fellowship before this film would kick off. Here’s the official log line,

“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.”

I’m really not sure how this film will work out, or whether it will be any good, but we shall see? What do you think of the news Stephen Colbert is writing the next The Lord of the Rings movie, titled Shadows of the Past? Excited, or like me worried that the story is being stretched too thin for a WB cash injection? Thoughts below.

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