Stephen Colbert co-writing new Lord of the Rings film with his son

Late-night TV host Stephen Colbert is co-writing a new film in the Lord of the Rings saga.

Colbert made the announcement with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson on Tuesday, on a joint Zoom call. Colbert said he finds himself reading “over and over again” six chapters at the beginning of the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring, that were never included in Jackson’s film adaptation.

“It’s basically the chapter ‘Three Is Company’ through ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs,” Colbert said in a video posted to X. “And 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 said he began talking about this idea with his son, and they “worked out” what would work