“The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past” will follow the Andy Serkis-directed “Hunt for Gollum,” slated for release in 2027.

Stephen Colbert reveals surprising new project months before *Late Show *exit

"The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past" will follow the Andy Serkis-directed "Hunt for Gollum," slated for release in 2027.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

EW's editorial guidelines

on March 25, 2026 3:30 p.m. ET

Andy Serkis as Gollum in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'. Credit:

New Line Cinema

- Stephen Colbert is developing a new *Lord of the Rings *movie with his son, Peter.

- Titled *The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past*, the film will depict chapters 3-8 of J.R.R. Tolkien's *The Fellowship of the Ring*, which did not appear in Peter Jackson's original film trilogy.

- Jackson also gave a promising update on Andy Serkis' progress on *The Hunt for Gollum*, the next chapter in *The* *Lord of the Rings *cinematic saga.

The former Lord of Late Night is coming to Middle-earth.

After re-emerging from his Hobbit hole to give an update on *The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum *late Tuesday night, Peter Jackson welcomed an unexpected, A-list *LOTR* fan to deliver another announcement — first hinted at back in 2024 — that *Gollum* "is not the only Tolkien movie that we're developing."

Stephen Colbert, introduced by the Oscar winner as his "special partner" in the new *LOTR *film, popped up on the screen below Jackson. The soon-departing host of the canceled *Late Show With Stephen Colbert* joined Jackson to discuss *The Lord of the Rings*: *Shadow of the Past*, the film that will follow *Gollum*.

A Warner Bros. release sent Tuesday included the official synopsis of the just-announced film: "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 thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in [*The Fellowship of the Ring*] that y'all never developed into the first movie back in the day," Colbert explained. He pointed to chapter 3 of Tolkien's first *Rings *volume, "Three Is Company," through chapter 8, "Fog on the Barrow-Downs."

"I thought, 'Oh, wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story. Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books, while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys had already made?" Colbert wondered aloud. The answer is evidently yes.

Colbert said he worked on the idea with his son Peter, a screenwriter. The two showed what they mocked up to Jackson, who "liked it enough to talk to me about it," then onto original *LOTR *co-screenwriter Philippa Boyens, up to the top brass at New Line and Warner Bros.

Pippin (Billy Boyd), Frodo (Elijah Wood), Samwise (Sean Astin), and Merry (Dominic Monaghan) in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'.

"I could not be happier to say that they loved it," Colbert said. "And so that's what we're gonna be working on."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

Jackson joked, "Now are you sure you've got the time, though?" to which Colbert replied, "It turns out I'm gonna be free, starting this summer."

Before introducing Colbert, Jackson shared some behind-the-scenes footage from *The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. *First announced two years ago, the new live-action spinoff is produced by Jackson, with Gollum actor Andy Serkis directing and starring.

'LOTR' star Elijah Wood doesn't want anybody else to play Frodo as long as he's 'alive and able'

Ian McKellen reveals Gandalf and Frodo to return for 'The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum'

"We've got a lot of the old team back again, familiar faces and some new faces. But Andy's doing a terrific job, it's looking amazing. The script is coming together really well, and I think it's going to be a really good film," Jackson teased on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the announcement did not clear up fervent fan speculation over which trilogy stars might be trekking back into the franchise, aside from showing Serkis filming a motion-capture performance from *Gollum*.**

Gollum in 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' (2012). Warner Bros. Pictures

Ian McKellen, who played the wise wizard Gandalf in the Jackson films, kindled hope in hearts across the world when he teased at a fan event last August that "there's a character in [*The Hunt for Gollum*] called Frodo, and there's a character in the movie called Gandalf."

McKellen's Grey Wanderer and Elijah Wood's unlikely hero from Hobbiton are two of the most beloved characters from the films, even across the entire, ranging mythology originally spun by Tolkien. Warner Bros. would not respond to **'s request for comment on McKellen's suggestion that they may return, but Wood took a crack.

"I can neither confirm nor deny. Listen, a wizard is to be trusted. Aside from any of that, I'm not really allowed to confirm," the actor shared at a separate fan event in January. Wood later noted that he "certainly wouldn't want anybody else to play Frodo either as long as I'm alive and able" — a sentiment shared last year by Orlando Bloom, who said of *The Hunt for Gollum*, "I'd hate to see anyone else play Legolas."

Andy Serkis as the Hobbit Sméagol, before transforming into Gollum in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'. Warner Bros.

Aside from Jackson and Serkis, other *LOTR *luminaries are back on board for *The Hunt for Gollum*: Oscar winners Boyens and Fran Walsh, who co-wrote the original trilogy screenplays alongside Jackson and Stephen Sinclair, returned to co-write *Gollum*. Walsh and Boyens instead co-wrote *Gollum *Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou, co-writers of animated feature *The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim*.

McKellen also said in a 2024 interview that *The Hunt for Gollum* would be split into two films. It's an assertion that Boyens categorically denied in an interview the same year with *Empire*: "I can tell you definitively it isn't two films," she said, promising "quite an intense story, which falls after the birthday party of Bilbo and before the Mines of Moria."

*The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum* arrives in theaters Dec. 17, 2027.

- Film Worlds & Fandoms

- The Hobbit Fandom

- The Lord of the Rings

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW The”