Stephen Colbert’s Next Act? From Late Night Host to ‘Lord of the Rings’ Script Writer
When The Late Show with Stephen Colbert signs off for the final time on May 21, 2026, its host won’t be stepping into retirement. He’ll be stepping into Middle-earth.
In a revelation that stunned fans and reshaped the conversation about what comes next for one of television’s most recognizable faces, Stephen Colbert has been tapped to write the screenplay for a new Lord of the Rings film titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past.
The announcement arrived on March 25 — Tolkien Reading Day — via a video shared on X featuring franchise director Peter Jackson.
A Project Years in the Making
What makes this career pivot especially striking is that Colbert didn’t wait until his late-night desk went dark to begin plotting his next chapter. He was quietly building this project while still hosting his nightly CBS show.
Colbert explained that he came up with the idea for the film with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee. Then came the nerve-wracking part — bringing it to Jackson himself.
“It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call,” Colbert said in the video. “But about two years ago, I did. You liked it enough to talk to me about it.”
That timeline means Colbert was developing a blockbuster screenplay pitch as far back as roughly 2024, all while delivering monologues and interviewing guests five nights a week. He and McGee worked with Philippa Boyens on the script.
“You know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me,” Colbert told Jackson.
From Superfan to Franchise Architect
While a late-night host breaking into Hollywood screenwriting at this level is virtually unprecedented, the move carries a certain logic for anyone who has followed Colbert’s deep, well-documented devotion to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work.
“I 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,” Jackson told Entertainment Weekly in 2012.
That fandom has left a tangible trail across the franchise. Colbert, along with his wife and kids, made a cameo in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second installment of The Hobbit trilogy.
He moderated a panel for The Hobbit at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2014. He also wrote, directed and starred in Darrylgorn, an eight-minute short film set in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, per Variety.
Still, there is a significant leap between superfandom and co-writing a tentpole blockbuster for Warner Bros. That Colbert bridged it speaks to an ambition that extends well beyond the late-night format that made him famous.
What We Know About the Film
The film will focus on chapters three through six from the first LOTR book, The Fellowship of the Ring, and will officially serve as a sequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The logline, according to Variety, reads: “Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo — Sam, Merry and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”
The announcement came alongside Jackson’s update on the franchise’s other upcoming film, The Hunt for Gollum, slated for 2027.
“Andy is doing a terrific job. It’s looking amazing,” Jackson said of actor and director Andy Serkis. “The script is coming together really well and I think it’s going to be a really good film.”
Shadows of the Past is set to be released sometime after The Hunt for Gollum.
For those tracking Colbert’s trajectory, this is more than franchise news — it’s a signal.
With his final late-night broadcast weeks away, Colbert isn’t winding down. He’s reinventing himself at the highest level of the entertainment industry, turning a lifelong passion into a second career that few could have predicted.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
