Warner Bros. has announced that Stephen Colbert, host of ‘The Late Show’ and one of the most recognizable and relevant faces of entertainment in the United States (and also one of the greatest Tolkien experts in the world of entertainment), will co-write ‘The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past’, the second of two new films in development for the franchise. He does it with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, and veteran Philippa Boyens. The Middle Earth franchise is picking up speed again. A special partner. The announcement was made on March 25, traditionally known among fans as the Tolkien Reading Daywith Peter Jackson looking at the camera from what looked like a home video and promising “a very special partner”. That partner is Stephen Colbert, well-known presenter of the talk show ‘The Daily Show’ (which this year faces its final season). Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema have thus communicated that Colbert will co-write ‘The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past’, the second of two new films in the franchise currently in development. What will count? Colbert identified years ago a hole in Jackson’s trilogy: the third to eighth chapters of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, from ‘Three’s Company’ to ‘Fog in the Barrows’, pages that the director never transferred to the screen in 2001. Within those chapters is Tom Bombadil, the Tolkien character whose absence in the original films became one of the fandom’s most persistent complaints. “I found myself reading those six chapters over and over again,” Colbert explained to Jackson in the video“thinking that maybe it could be his own story that fits into the larger one.” The official synopsis places the action fourteen years after Frodo’s death: Sam, Merry and Pippin retrace their steps, reliving the first moments of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, discovers a buried secret that nearly derailed the War of the Ring before it even began. It is a story that unites the past and present of the franchise and that, according to the synopsis, opens the door for actors from the original cast to reprise their roles with a narratively coherent age. More fronts. ‘Shadow of the Past’ will arrive after ‘The Hunt for Gollum‘, the film directed by Andy Serkis (player of Gollum in the original trilogy) and whose premiere is scheduled for December 17, 2027. Serkis returns to the character in a story located between the events of ‘The Hobbit’ and those of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, and filming has not yet started. It is not the only adaptation underway: Amazon continues with the third season of ‘The Rings of Power‘, and periodic re-releases are planned to celebrate anniversaries such as the 25 years of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’. The corporate context. Another layer in the succession of ingredients that season this new adaptation. Paramount is acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery in a merger valued at approximately $111 billion, which is expected to take place before the fourth quarter of 2026. Colbert, ironically, leaves CBS (owned by Paramount) with his ‘The Daily Show’ to work with Warner Bros., the studio that that same corporate group will end up controlling. Colbert’s talent. Colbert’s participation in the script is not an empty promotional nod. The presenter’s relationship with Tolkien dates back decades: when he was a teenager he abandoned sports and schoolwork to read Tolkien systematically: not only ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, but all of the author’s work. jackson said of him in 2012 that “I have never met a bigger Tolkienian fan in my life.” One of the many pieces of evidence he treasures: when Colbert visited the set of ‘The Hobbit’, Jackson organized a question and answer contest between him and Philippa Boyens, the screenwriter of the trilogy who will now co-write ‘Shadow of the Past’ with him. Colbert won. In 2013 he had a cameo in ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ as a Lake City spy, along with his wife and children (including Peter McGee, co-writer of the new film). The following year he moderated the ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ panel at the San Diego Comic-Con. completely disguised as the same character. In 2019 he directed the short film ‘Darrylgorn’, starring Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood. A stop as a start. The cancellation of ‘The Daily Show’ is what made the project possible. C.B.S. announced in July 2025 the closure of the programin the midst of tensions between Colbert and Paramount after the network’s agreement with Donald Trump to settle a lawsuit by the president with the program ’60 Minutes’, of which the presenter has always been very critical. The last episode is scheduled for May 21, 2026, closing eleven years at the helm of the title. Colbert acknowledged in the ad from the movie that “turns out I’m going to be free starting this summer.” In Xataka | A demographer has spent weeks solving a very important question: how many people lived in Tolkien’s Middle Earth
