Comedian and self-described Tolkien expert Stephen Colbert will take on a new challenge after his late-night hosting duties end—writing the next “Lord of the Rings” movie. 

Peter Jackson, the filmmaker behind the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies announced that Stephen Colbert will join Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee to write the film tentatively titled “The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.” The late-night host’s son, screenwriter Peter Colbert, assisted his father with an outline for the story. 

The film is expected to be released after “Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” which is set for a Dec. 17, 2027, release. Andy Serkis, who voiced and did the motion capture filming for the role of Gollum in the previous movies, is set to direct. 

Jackson announced the news in a joint video with Stephen Colbert posted to Instagram. 

The latter said he was inspired to write the new film after a recent re-read of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” It will focus on several chapters not included in the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy. The chapters are set 14 years after Frodo (Elijah Wood) travels to the Undying Lands at the conclusion of the trilogy and follows as fellow hobbits Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) go on a trip to retrace the early part of their travels. Sam’s daughter Elanor also has a key role in the plot. 

“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,” Stephen Colbert said in the video with Jackson. 

“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?”

Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” will end in May after 11 seasons on CBS. 

About the writer

Danielle Haynes is the co-founder and co-editor of Booked & Screened, covering book-to-screen adaptations, film and TV development. She’s really hoping the new “Lord of the Rings” movies have an excuse to bring back Legolas (Orlando Bloom) again.