Another Lord of the Rings film? Stephen Colbert's new announcement leaves fans wary

After 33 years of late-night laughs, Stephen Colbert is ready to embrace the elven lore. Now that CBS is pulling the curtain on his show this May, the world’s most famous Tolkien fan is officially heading to the Shire.

The project, reportedly titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, aims to bridge the gap between the original books and the big screen. Colbert is diving deep into chapters three through eight of The Fellowship of the Ring—a section of the journey he feels was never fully explored in the original movie trilogy. He promised director Peter Jackson that the story will stay "completely faithful" to the source material while fitting into the cinematic world fans already love.

Colbert admitted that he’s been sitting on this idea for years but simply didn't have the bandwidth to balance a daily show with the demands of the Shire. "As much as I love it, I knew I couldn't do that film and do the show at the same time," he explained, as quoted by BBC. With his schedule cleared starting this summer, he finally "scraped his courage into a pile" to pitch the idea to Jackson, who was immediately on board.

The story appears to take an intriguing turn by jumping forward fourteen years after Frodo’s departure. It follows Sam, Merry, and Pippin as they retrace the early steps of their adventure, while Sam’s daughter, Elanor, stumbles upon a long-buried secret about why the War of the Ring was nearly lost before it even began. Colbert will be joined by legendary LOTR screenwriter Philippa Boyens to ensure the script has that authentic Middle-earth magic.

However, fans have not embraced the idea. One wrote, "Lord of the Rings has no sequel. Lord of the Rings needs no sequel." Another fan asked, "Who asked for this?" One fan wrote," I personally I don't think we should be green-lighting fanfiction and attaching it to the original series." One also added, "It was better when things ended."

The original Lord of the Rings film trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson, featured a large ensemble cast that brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life. The core "Fellowship" was led by Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, supported by Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee, and Sean Bean as Boromir. Other key members included John Rhys-Davies as Gimli, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Billy Boyd as Pippin, and Dominic Monaghan as Merry. The wider cast featured notable performances from Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Liv Tyler as Arwen, and Andy Serkis, who provided the voice and motion capture for Gollum.

In terms of length, the trilogy was a courageous undertaking both in production and screen time. Released annually between 2001 and 2003, the three films, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, have a combined theatrical running time of approximately 9 hours and 18 minutes (558 minutes). For dedicated fans, the Extended Editions increased this total significantly to roughly 11 hours and 22 minutes (683 minutes).