Stephen Colbert and son to write Lord of the Rings movie

You can finally put to bed those rumors that Stephen Colbert's taking his current affairs show to Netflix for a zillion bucks—he's actually going to Warner Bros. to write a new Lord of the Rings movie with his son. Peter Jackson, director of the movie trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novels, announced the news on social media.

The video announcement opened with "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson giving a quick update about the next film in the fantasy franchise: Andy Serkis' "The Hunt for Gollum." Jackson said of the project, which is set for release in 2027: "Andy is doing a terrific job. It's looking amazing. The script is coming together really well and I think it's going to be a really good film."

Colbert is a known "superfan" of the fantasy epic; his show was canceled by CBS News to please Trump.

In a clip of a call with director Peter Jackson, Colbert said it would "be its own story that could fit into the larger story", and remain "completely faithful to the books while also being completely faithful to the movies that you guys had already made".

The word is that Colbert's production will deal with Rings material left out of the movies, which means…

First up, though, is Andy Serkis's Sméagol flick, The Hunt for Gollum (cf. a very good 2000s fan film by the same name. Let's forget about the video game already.)

Previously:
• Listen to this 1964 interview with J.R.R. Tolkien
• The greatest Christmas movie Is The Lord of the Rings
• Lost Bakshi Lord of the Rings footage found
• Lord of the Rings, paperback cover study art (1965)