Stephen Colbert had apparently already begun an entirely different creative journey long before the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert became public. According to Peter Jackson, the late-night host had been quietly developing a new Lord of the Rings movie for nearly a year — a project that later helped him process the shock of losing his longtime CBS show.

Speaking at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Jackson explained that Colbert first approached him with the idea well before The Late Show’s end was announced, eventually leading to the development of The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, a film that will follow the upcoming Andy Serkis–directed Gollum.

For longtime fans of Colbert’s famously encyclopedic knowledge of J.R.R. Tolkien, the collaboration may not come as a complete surprise. But according to Peter Jackson, Stephen Colbert’s involvement in Middle-earth goes far beyond fandom.

Speaking to Variety at Cannes, Peter Jackson revealed that Stephen Colbert personally reached out nearly a year ago with an idea for a Tolkien-based story, long before he knew The Late Show would end.

“He phoned me up a year ago — before he knew [The Late Show] was going to finish — and said, ‘I don’t know if you’re interested, but I’ve got an idea for a Tolkien movie based on the books that I think would be really good,’” Jackson told the outlet.

According to Jackson, the pitch impressed him enough to pair Colbert with longtime collaborator Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. The pair reportedly spent a year developing a treatment for the film, with Colbert even travelling to New Zealand to work more closely with the creative team. Jackson also admitted he had “never met anyone who knows more about Tolkien” than Colbert.

The upcoming film, currently titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, will reportedly follow Sam, Merry, and Pippin fourteen years after Frodo’s departure while Sam’s daughter, Elanor, uncovers a hidden mystery tied to the War of the Ring. The project is set to follow Andy Serkis’ The Hunt for Gollum in the expanding Middle-earth slate.

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The timing of the project, however, may have ended up becoming just as important as the film itself.

During the middle of the writing process, CBS announced that The Late Show would come to an end, with its final episode scheduled for May 21. At the time, the network described the move as “purely a financial decision” unrelated to the show’s performance or content.

“I think Stephen’s actually really happy — I think it helped him process [something that] was rather shocking...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,” Peter Jackson told Variety. Jackson admitted the cancellation was not what Stephen Colbert or the show “deserved,” but suggested the Middle-earth project unexpectedly gave the host something meaningful to focus on.

Colbert himself recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he understands why some fans may hesitate about his involvement but insisted he wants to create “not fandom, but drama.” He also revealed he is writing the film alongside his son Peter McGee and Boyens, adding that “every moment has been a joy so far.”

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