{"id":564274,"date":"2026-03-25T22:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564274\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T22:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:35:10","slug":"stephen-colbert-to-co-write-new-lord-of-the-rings-film-after-late-night-show-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/564274\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert to co\u2011write new Lord of the Rings film after late-night show ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Colbert is heading to Middle-earth.<\/p>\n

The comedian announced that following the end of his 11\u2011year run as host of CBS’s The Late Show in May, he would co\u2011write and develop a new film in the Lord of the Rings franchise.<\/p>\n

It marks a new chapter for the talk show host, a noted devotee of J.R.R Tolkien\u2019s fictional world of Middle-earth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colbert appears in the video announcement of the project alongside Peter Jackson, the New Zealand-born filmmaker who directed the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, a critical and commercial smash.<\/p>\n

The film’s working title is Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, according to a press release. A director has not been announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty happy about it,\u201d Colbert says to Mr Jackson in the clip.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cYou know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Producer Peter Jackson revealed Colbert’s involvement in a video released on social media. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)<\/p>\n

Colbert will develop the film with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, and Philippa Boyens, one of the original trilogy’s screenwriters.<\/p>\n

The project will be the second of two upcoming Lord of the Rings films in development at Warner Bros Discovery and New Line Cinema.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, is in pre-production and is set to arrive in cinemas next year.<\/p>\n

Tolkien’s epic fantasy was published in three parts in 1954 and 1955 in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It remains one of fantasy’s most popular stories and one of the best-selling novels ever written.<\/p>\n

How Peter Jackson fought for his Middle Earth dream <\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Jackson’s life wouldn’t be the same after that red carpet event on December 10, 2001, but it’s fair to say cinema, and New Zealand, wouldn’t be the same either.<\/p>\n

Jackson’s trilogy grossed more than US$2.9 billion ($4.1 billion) worldwide, and 2003’s third instalment, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for best picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He followed a decade later with a trilogy of prequels based on Tolkien’s 1937 novel, The Hobbit.<\/p>\n

Colbert’s The Late Show on CBS will air its last episode on May 21 this year, after the network announced it was cancelling the late-night show last July.<\/p>\n

Wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert is heading to Middle-earth. The comedian announced that following the end of his 11\u2011year run as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,21505,134,1689,20753,20752,3869,6514],"class_list":["post-564274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-director","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-lord-of-the-rings","tag-peter-jackson","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-the-late-show"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}