Overview
- Warner Bros., in a video posted Wednesday with Peter Jackson, announced a tentatively titled film called The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past co-written by Stephen Colbert, his son Peter McGee, and Philippa Boyens.
- The studio logline sets the story 14 years after Frodo’s passing as Sam, Merry, and Pippin retrace their first steps while Sam’s daughter Elanor pursues a secret tied to the start of the War of the Ring.
- Colbert said the screenplay draws from “Three Is Company” through “Fog on the Barrow-downs,” chapters Jackson skipped in 2001, which longtime readers have wanted to see on screen.
- Press reports suggest the adaptation could feature Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-downs, and early reaction from fans mixes excitement with caution about how that material will translate to film.
- The film is positioned to follow Andy Serkis’s The Hunt for Gollum due December 2027, with no director, cast, or release date yet announced, as Colbert wraps The Late Show on May 21 and shifts his focus to writing.