The world is changed. We feel it in the water. We feel it in the Earth. We… saw it via video on X. In marking Tolkien Reading Day, Warner Bros. took to its social channels (before we could even have second breakfast!) this morning to reveal that Andy Serkis’ The Hunt For Gollum isn’t the only Lord Of The Rings movie currently in the works at the studio. In a video featuring Peter Jackson and a “very special partner”, we learned that Lord Of The Rings: Shadow Of The Past — co-written by Tolkien obsessive Stephen Colbert — is in active development now, too. See the video below;
Co-written by Colbert and his screenwriter son Peter McGee alongside Rings legend Philippa Boyens, Shadow Of The Past (which, by the by, is a working title) is set to bring Chapters III (‘Three Is Company’) through VIII (‘Fog On The Barrow-Downs’) of Fellowship Of The Ring — whose story is largely excised in Jackson’s original movie — to life via a framing device set 15 years after Frodo’s passing. Yes, this is a Lord Of The Rings sequel… of sorts. The official logline 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.” For those familiar but not forensic in their recollection of Tolkien’s first Rings book, it seems prudent to mention that contained between Chapters III and VIII are ‘The Old Forest’ and ‘In The House Of Tom Bombadil’, so gird your loins and warm up your voices, friends!
Now we don’t yet know whether Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan will be reprising their roles from the original trilogy here, though Colbert’s framing device definitely lends itself to age-appropriate role reprisals on the trio’s part. We also don’t know who will direct the film yet — whether it be Jackson, The Hunt For Gollum‘s Andy Serkis, or somebody else entirely. We do however know that Colbert, his son, and Boyens have already been chipping away at Shadow Of The Past for two years now, and with Colbert’s current late night talk show hosting duties about to come to an end, suddenly there’s a very open slot in the Middle-earth lover’s schedule to really crack on with this one.
With Fellowship Of The Ring back in cinemas this year for its 25th anniversary, The Rings Of Power Season 3 well on its way, shooting due to start on The Hunt For Gollum imminently, and now the promise of another Middle-earthian adventure with Shadow Of The Past, these are precious (precioussss…) times to be a Rings fan. We’ll bring you more on Colbert’s return to Middle-earth (yes, we remember your The Hobbit: Desolation Of Smaug cameo, Stephen) — and what Serkis is up to with Gollum — as soon as we hear more.
