![\"THE](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9New Line Cinema\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tFor most people, loving \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d means watching the extended editions every few years and maybe owning a copy of the books. For Stephen Colbert, it has meant something considerably more involved.<\/p>\n
\n\tOver the course of his career, first on \u201cThe Colbert Report\u201d and then on \u201cThe Late Show,\u201d Colbert has made his Tolkien obsession one of the most well-documented fan relationships in television history. He has debated Elvish linguistics on air, beaten the franchise\u2019s own Oscar-winning screenwriter in a trivia contest and directed a Middle-earth short film starring the original cast. Peter Jackson, who has met a few Tolkien fans in his time, declared him the biggest he had ever encountered. The one thing he hasn\u2019t done is write a feature film script. <\/p>\n
\n\tBut no matter \u2014 that lifelong devotion has landed Colbert a credit that most fans could only ever dream of. Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema confirmed that Colbert will co-write \u201cThe Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past\u201d alongside screenwriter Philippa Boyens and Colbert\u2019s son Peter McGee, with Jackson producing. The film, which draws from six chapters of \u201cThe Fellowship of the Ring\u201d that Jackson never adapted, is set 14 years after the passing of Frodo, following Sam, Merry and Pippin as they retrace the first steps of their journey while Sam\u2019s daughter Elanor uncovers a secret that nearly cost them everything.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s one of the most logical jobs for a superfan in Hollywood history. Here are seven moments that explain exactly why.<\/p>\n
\t\u2018LOTR\u2019 Director Peter Jackson declared Colbert the biggest Tolkien geek he had ever met<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9New Line Cinema\/Courtesy Everett Collection\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Colbert visited the New Zealand set of \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d Jackson arranged a trivia face-off between his guest and the film\u2019s resident Tolkien authority Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d trilogy and won an Academy Award for \u201cThe Return of the King.\u201d Colbert won.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI have never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life. His encyclopedic knowledge of Tolkien is spectacular, and points to a deprived childhood in some respects,\u201d Jackson told Entertainment Weekly in 2012. That \u201cdeprived childhood\u201d included, by Colbert\u2019s own account, abandoning schoolwork, quitting sports and spending his teenage years absorbed in not just \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d and \u201cLord of the Rings,\u201d but the full sweep of Tolkien\u2019s writing. Now the man who beat the franchise\u2019s own screenwriter at her own game is writing the next film alongside her.<\/p>\n
\tColbert has a cameo in \u2018The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tColbert appeared as a Lake-town spy in the 2013 sequel, squeezing into frame during the scene where Bard\u2019s son warns of men watching the house. His wife, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, and their sons Peter and John came along for the ride and got their own cameos in the scene. <\/p>\n
\n\tColbert teased the appearance on \u201cLate Show with David Letterman\u201d as a game of \u201cWhere\u2019s Waldo,\u201d declining to reveal where in the film to find him. Jackson later broke down the cameo in a video posted to the Late Show\u2019s social channels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\u00a0Colbert and Liv Tyler reenacted a \u2018Fellowship of the Ring\u2019 scene \u2014 in Elvish<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Credit: Scott Kowalchyk\/CBS\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Tyler appeared on \u201cThe Late Show\u201d in 2018, ostensibly to promote her Hulu series \u201cHarlots,\u201d she arrived with a gift. Tucked behind Colbert\u2019s desk was Arwen\u2019s sword Hadhafang, the prop blade Jackson had given her from the original films. <\/p>\n
\n\tColbert greeted her on air by her full Elvish name, \u201cArwen Und\u00f3miel, the evening star of her people,\u201d then asked if she would \u201cindulge in a fantasy\u201d of his, quickly assuring the audience it was \u201csafe for TV.\u201d She obliged and with Colbert crouched in her lap as Frodo, Tyler raised the blade and delivered the line, \u201cIf you want him, come and claim him,\u201d first in English, then in Elvish, from memory, two decades after filming. Colbert audibly whooped. <\/p>\n
\n\tWatch the full interview below.<\/p>\n
\tColbert reunited the \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 cast to celebrate 20 years of \u2018Fellowship\u2019 with a rap tribute<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTube\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIn December 2021, with the 20th anniversary of \u201cThe Fellowship of the Ring\u201d days away and no official celebration in sight, Colbert took matters into his own hands.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u00a0\u201cHarry Potter is getting a giant 20th-anniversary special with a full cast reunion,\u201d he told his audience. \u201cI think Peter Jackson\u2019s towering achievement deserves the same kind of treatment.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\tWhat followed was \u201c#1 Trilly,\u201d a full rap video \u2014 shot in \u201990s-inspired costuming, with Colbert in a replica of Frodo\u2019s mithril shirt \u2014 featuring Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Method Man and Killer Mike. Weaving even delivered a verse in Elvish.\u00a0Colbert noted it was also the 20th anniversary of him \u201cnot shutting up about \u2018The Lord of the Rings.’\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWatch the performance below:<\/p>\n
\tColbert moderated \u2018The Hobbit\u2019 panel at San Diego Comic-Con in full costume<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tChris Hardwick was originally scheduled to moderate the \u201cHobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies\u201d panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2014. He was more than happy to hand off the duties when Colbert showed up.<\/p>\n
\n\tDressed as the Lake-town Spy from his \u201cDesolation of Smaug\u201d cameo, Colbert walked out alongside his similarly costumed son, opened with \u201cIf I could only go back in time and show this to my 13-year-old self,\u201d and then delivered what became one of the most talked-about fan speeches in Comic-Con history. He told the crowd that when he first heard Jackson was adapting the trilogy, he was terrified. \u201cI was worried that somehow he would take away my treasure, my horde of precious Middle-earth stories. It was a very possessive, obsessive, very dragon-y feeling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAs his fears gave way to hope, he said what he really wanted was for his \u201chead full of facts from F\u00ebanor to Faramir\u201d to finally have some social value, so that someone might ask him about Tolkien and he could say, \u201cYes, oh God yes, I will.\u201d The crowd went crazy.<\/p>\n
\tColbert wrote, directed and starred in a Middle-earth short film with the original cast<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTube\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIn 2019, Colbert wrote, directed and starred in \u201cDarrylgorn,\u201d an eight-minute short film \u2014 produced as a Late Show segment \u2014 about Aragorn\u2019s less celebrated brother, a mysterious and overlooked hero of Middle-earth. Jackson, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood all appeared.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe film racked up roughly a million YouTube views in its first month. It remains one of the more remarkable things a fan has ever pulled off: assembling the director and three stars of one of the most beloved film trilogies in history to appear in your original Middle-earth comedy because they like you that much. It is also, in retrospect, a proof of concept.<\/p>\n
\n\tWatch \u201cDarrylgorn\u201d on the Late Show here:<\/p>\n
\tColbert used his Tolkien expertise to intervene in a Turkish criminal case<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTube\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tIn 2015, a Turkish physician named Bilgin \u00c7ift\u00e7i lost his job and faced up to two years in prison for posting a meme comparing President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan to Gollum (insulting a head of state being a punishable offense under Turkish law). His defense argued the photos actually depicted Sm\u00e9agol, the character\u2019s gentler, heroic alter ego.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe court called for a Tolkien expert. Colbert volunteered on air, dressed as Gregory Peck in \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird,\u201d and delivered a painstakingly researched case for the defense. \u201cWhen I spent my entire teenage years reading all of Tolkien \u2014 not just \u2018The Hobbit\u2019 and \u2018The Lord of the Rings,’\u201d he told his audience, \u201cI knew I was preparing myself for something important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHe was later joined in the defense by Jackson, Walsh and Boyens, who issued a joint statement. \u00c7ift\u00e7i was ultimately acquitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWatch the clip below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For most people, loving \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d means watching the extended editions every few years and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206,10674,16522,24242],"class_list":["post-546184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-the-late-show","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}