Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings Movie Still in Development after Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

Published Oct 5, 2026, 4:58 AM EDT Francesco is an editor with a background in academic research, journalism, and content strategy, specializing in entertainment news and curation. He works across all of Polygon's verticals, specializing in tabletop games, with a focus on D&D and Magic. Skydance didn't kill Shadows of the Past Image: Warner Bros. On Oct. 4, rumors emerged that Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings project, which the TV host revealed in March 2026, was "paused" as a consequence of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. The story was reported by Knight Edge Media, but it seems that Lord of the Rings fans can rest easy. In March 2026, Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson announced a new Lord of the Rings movie project, created in partnership with now-former host of The Late Show Stephen Colbert and his son, screenwriter Peter McGee. Philippa Boyens, screenwriter on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, also joined the project, tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past, which got the green light from New Line and Warner Bros. The merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. has sparked many rumors about the highest-profile projects now belonging to the new company Skydance, but The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past doesn't seem to be affected. The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past is still in development after Skydance merger Image: New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. The original report from Knight Edge Media mentioned no specific source for the "exclusive" news. Screen Rant's Rob Keyes first tagged the report as "inaccurate" in a post on X on Oct. 5, mentioning that "Status is exactly as it was weeks ago. They're still writing, no confirmed budget or shoot date, etc." Warner Bros. also reached out to Knight Edge Media, which added the following update at the bottom of the story: "WB has reached out to reiterate that it is not 'canceled' and is still in development. As we wrote, it wasn’t canceled/canned, which leaves the door open to still being made." The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past is set up to be a truly interesting project for fans of Tolkien's Middle-earth. It aims to expand the original Lord of the Rings movie trilogy by adapting a number of early chapters from the first book that were cut from Jackson's films, namely the hobbits' journey from Hobbiton to Bree. The first steps of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin's journey were far from uneventful: Hunted by the Black Riders and forced to traverse unfamiliar lands, they ended up trapped in the Barrow-downs and almost killed by the malevolent entities buried there. The movie, however, will pick up after the end of the original trilogy, with Sam, Merry, and Pippin setting out to retrace their early adventures. The synopsis, as reported by Variety, reads as follows: 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. Colbert is famously a Tolkien superfan, so it's not that surprising to see him attached to a Lord of the Rings project. Shadows of the Past is still in development, with no further updates available at the moment. Meanwhile, the next Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum, directed by Andy Serkis, will hit theaters on Dec. 17, 2027. It tells the story of Aragorn searching the uncivilized lands for traces of the elusive Smeagol before the Council of Elrond, a mission given to him by Gandalf to discover the origins of the mysterious ring held by Bilbo first, and then Frodo.