I'm A Tolkien Superfan Who's Genuinely Excited (And Terrified) About Stephen Colbert's Lord Of The Rings Movie

Middle-earth cinema is in full-blown resurgence territory. "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is going strong. A couple of years ago we had the semi-inspiring anime "The Lord Of The Rings: The War of the Rohirrim". In 2027, a "Hunt for Gollum" movie will fill in gaps in J.R.R. Tolkien's timeline, too. And now, I'm excited and terrified to say that a new sequel film, currently titled "The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past," is on the way from Peter Jackson and renowned Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert. 

The new movie will be a sequel. Kind of. Technically, the Colbert "Lord of the Rings" movie will be set 14 years after Frodo leaves the Shire headed for the Undying Lands in the West. While I'm sure it will have flashbacks, that part of the movie is officially outside of the bounds of Tolkien's primary narrative.

I've read the original trilogy and "The Hobbit" dozens of times (yes, I'm obsessed), and I've spent more hours re-reading books like "The Silmarillion" and "Unfinished Tales" than I can count. This kind of news usually gets me intrigued at first as I think of the possibilities. And don't get me wrong — I have some thoughts, Precious. The weird thing with this bit of news, though? I'm split. Overall, I'm excited because of who's involved and the story's potential. But I'm also already dreading this for a lot of reasons.

Before I dive into the potential story for the movie, here's the official synopsis for Stephen Colbert's new script per the press release from Warner Bros. and New Line: "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."

That alone doesn't say much, but Colbert joined Peter Jackson in a video to complement the official announcement, and true to form — I love Colbert — he geeked out over the specifics. In the explanation, he points to the section early in "The Fellowship of the Ring" book that Jackson and company originally cut out of the movie adaptation. From where I'm standing, it looks like when the summary says "retrace the first steps of their adventure," the plan is to revisit that part, which includes the infamously cut Tom Bombadil, his wife Goldberry, Barrow-wights, and even the forgotten fifth member of the Hobbit quintet, Fatty Bolger.

This is where I get excited. That is a fun and lengthy part of the book. As Colbert points out, they'll be pulling from six different chapters, all of which were minimized or completely cut from the original trilogy. This part of the story is slower-paced, thanks to its Hobbit focus, but that kind of feel-good movie might be just what the franchise needs right now. I also like Colbert's involvement. He's working with veterans Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh. The combination of superfan (with Hollywood experience) energy and J.R.R. Tolkien alumni could be just what we need to recapture the Middle-earth magic.

To quote the indelible Paul Atreides, the central character of a similarly dense tome, "Dune": "I do see a way. There is a narrow way through." When the stars align in my head (as they never do in real life), this idea works. But do you remember the words before Paul's soul-stirring line? "Our enemies are all around us, and in so many futures they prevail." Yeah, that applies here too. There are so many ways this could go off the rails. Let's list a few, shall we?

Let's start broad stroke. One way or another, the fandom has reacted negatively to every adaptation since "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won every single award it was nominated for at the Oscars. I've noticed, like Sauron, it takes different shapes but always ends up the same. "The Hobbit" trilogy was over-extended. "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" is too different and forced to fill in too many gaps. "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" turned out to be a half-hearted attempt to maintain rights to the IP. Every time, people complained. I expect more of the same here — and mark my words, it'll dampen the overall experience.

There are lots of little red flags I'm seeing here, too. Stephen Colbert announcing this after his time on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" ended looks more like a next step for him rather than chasing a genuinely good idea at the right time. Framing the story as a flashback could be clunky, too. Are they going to use AI to de-age anyone? Is Elijah Wood's Frodo going to be in the flashbacks? Because he's kind of important. Is the sequel part basically fan fiction at this point?

The news about "The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past" isn't a surprise. According to the official press release for the new movie, the re-release of "The Lord of the Rings" in early 2026 made $25 million at the box office — that's a quarter of a century after they were released. Peter Jackson's original films have staying power. People still love them, and studios want to tap into those feelings with other movies and shows. I get it.

My struggle comes from the details surrounding those attempts. Choosing to explore Gollum's psychology (as is the stated plan for "The Hunt for Gollum) is a huge break from the backed-out, ensemble adventure focus fans love with these films. "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has spent a lot of time focusing on Hobbit ancestors, too — and that is definitely not the strongest part of that series, so an "in and around the Shire" film isn't automatically a slam dunk. "The Shadow of the Past" might have excellent source material to pull from, but that part of the story works because, well, it's part of the bigger story. Extracting it and reframing it as a future flashback is risky business.

I'm a cup-half-full kind of guy, and I really hope this works. Getting a bona fide J.R.R. Tolkien nerd like Stephen Colbert involved is reassuring, and matching him up with Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and Peter Jackson helps. But make no mistake. There are plenty of ways this could go sideways, and I'll be living somewhere between excitement and worry as we count down the years until we can finally buy tickets for this thing. Time to go get some Tums.