Earlier this year, late-night host Stephen Colbert revealed on Tolkien Day that he has been writing a new Lord of the Rings film titled Shadow of the Past. Colbert, his son, and Lord of the Rings alum Philippa Boyens will write the film. It is expected to be a flashback film and follow the six chapters in The Fellowship of the Ring that were never in the original film, such as the Old Forrest, the Barrow-downs, and Tom Bombadil. While it wasn’t the Lord of the Rings film many fans had hoped for, it was just nice to get more theatrical content after The Hunt for Gollum.
We at Knight Edge Media have learned exclusively that the newly formed Skydance is hitting “pause” on the film for now. Originally, the movie was rumored to begin filming shortly after The Hunt for Gollum ended back in New Zealand. Now that Warner Bros. has officially merged with Paramount Pictures, a lot has changed in its executive leadership. Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are no longer with the company after facilitating Warner Brothers producing future Lord of the Rings films with Peter Jackson in 2023. Not to mention that CBS, another Skydance subsidiary, fired Colbert from his late-night talk show over political differences and his commentary on the Trump administration earlier this year (via The Hill). With this new merger now complete, Colbert is once again at the mercy of CEO David Ellison, even though he was working on the movie for WB.
The film hasn’t been fully canceled, but it has hit major development speed bumps. He may still work on drafts, but filming isn’t expected anytime soon. The new studio simply doesn’t see Lord of the Rings as profitable as it once did and wants to see how The Hunt for Gollum does before greenlighting more projects. Which isn’t surprising considering how badly The War of the Rohirrim did at the box office (via Comic Book Resources). It’s also possible they no longer work with the Peter Jackson team and look for new voices to tackle Tolkien’s legendarium. Nothing will stop production of The Hunt for Gollum, as it’s already begun filming and is expected to continue post-merger.
UPDATE: WB has reached out to reiterate that it is not “canceled” and is still in development. As we wrote, it wasn’t canceled/canned, which leaves the door open to still being made.
Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past has no set release date