Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings Movie Still Alive, Says Warner Bros.

Good news for Middle-earth fans who were worried about Stephen Colbert's big-screen Tolkien project. Collider reports that Lord of the Rings: The Shadow of the Past is not cancelled. The project is still in development, despite a rumor that popped up after the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.

That rumor started with Knight Edge Media, which claimed the film had been "paused." ScreenRant's Rob Keyes called it inaccurate, and Warner Bros. contacted Knight Edge Media to clarify. The outlet added an update: "WB has reached out to reiterate that it is not 'cancelled' and is still in development."

Colbert is co-writing the screenplay with his son Peter McGee and director Peter Jackson. Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the original Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, is also attached. The idea is to cover chapters Jackson skipped in his first adaptation, giving Colbert — a well-known Tolkien superfan — room to explore written material that never made it on screen.

According to a synopsis reported by Variety and cited by Collider, The Shadow of the Past picks up 14 years after Frodo's passing. Sam, Merry and Pippin retrace their adventure, while Sam's daughter Elanor uncovers a buried secret about why the War of the Ring nearly lost before it started.

No release date yet for Colbert's film. Meanwhile, Andy Serkis returns as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which hits theaters on December 17, 2027. Two new Middle-earth movies on the way? That's the kind of news that makes you want to revisit the trilogy this weekend.

• Lord of the Rings
• Peter Jackson
• Stephen Colbert
• The Hunt for Gollum
• The Shadow of the Past
• Warner Bros.