Peter Jackson said Stephen Colbert’s new Lord of the Rings film project gave the comedian “something to focus on” after CBS cancelled his long-running late-night talk show.
Colbert, an avid fan of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy series who had a cameo in Jackson’s 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is writing a new Lord of the Rings film titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.
He said in March that the idea emerged while he was re-reading the first volume in the series, The Fellowship of the Ring, and realised that the sections left out of Jackson’s original film trilogy could become their own story. He then sketched out a plot with his screenwriter son Peter McGee, who appeared in The Hobbit film with him 13 years ago.
Speaking to Variety at the Cannes film festival, where Jackson was honoured with a Palme d’Or on opening night, the director said Colbert had already been developing the Tolkien adaptation before learning that CBS would end The Late Show.
The final episode of The Late Show is scheduled to air on 21 May.
The Lovely Bones director said Colbert first contacted him around a year ago with his idea, “before he knew his show was going to finish”. Colbert then worked with Jackson’s longtime collaborator Philippa Boyens for a year to give shape to the project, with the talk show host even travelling to New Zealand during the process.
“I think Steven’s actually really happy. I think it helped him process what was rather shocking,” Jackson said, referring to his sacking by CBS. “So it was like, okay, one day he’s going to be a late-night talk show host and the next day he’s going to be a Tolkien scriptwriter.”
The film will largely focus on the eighth chapter of the book, titled “Fogs on the Barrow-downs”, and include Tom Bombadil, a fan-favourite character absent from Jackson’s original films. It’s intended to follow Andy Serkis’s forthcoming feature The Hunt for Gollum, which is scheduled for release in 2027.
Colbert is writing the screenplay with his son and Boyens. The film’s synopsis 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.”
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In July 2025, it was announced that CBS was cancelling Colbert’s The Late Show in what the network described as a “financial decision”. The cancellation led to speculation as it came shortly after Colbert had criticised Paramount over its controversial $16m settlement with US president Donald Trump in a lawsuit tied to 60 Minutes.
Colbert described the settlement as a “big fat bribe” since Paramount was at the same time seeking federal approval for its proposed merger with Skydance Media.
Meanwhile, CBS staffers told The Independent it was a continuation of the “Trump shakedown” that began with the settlement.