Stephen Colbert and son will co-write a ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert, famous devotee to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, is co-writing a “Lord of the Rings” movie with his son.

Warner Bros. announced early Wednesday that Colbert will script “The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past” along with series veteran Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee, Colbert’s son. Producer Peter Jackson revealed Colbert’s involvement in a social media video that introduced a “very special partner” on the film.

“It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call, but about two years ago I did,” Colbert told Jackson. “You liked it enough to talk to me about it, and ever since then, the two of us have been working with the brilliant Philippa Boyens on how to develop this story.”

“Shadow of the Past” will come after Andy Serkis’ upcoming “The Hunt of Gollum,” which is set to arrive in theaters next year.

Colbert said that a few years ago, while talking with his son, he thought of a potential framing device for the film, which follows a new adventure for Sam, Merry and Pippin 14 years after the passing of Frodo.

“You know what the books mean to me, and what your films mean to me,” Colbert said. “But the thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in (‘The Fellowship of the Ring’) that y’all never developed into the first movie back in the day.”

“I thought: ‘Oh, wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story. Could we make something that was completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys had already made?’” added Colbert.

Colbert’s “The Late Show” on CBS is to air its last episode on May 21 after the network announced it was canceling the late night show last July.