Stephen Colbert to write new Lord of the Rings movie after losing Late Show gig

The current project is called "Hunt for Gollum," and Jackson said, "Andy Serkis has been busy designing the film. He's going to direct it and obviously play Gollum. We've got a lot of the old team back again, familiar faces and some new faces, but Andy's 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, really good film. But that is not the only Tolkien movie that we're developing.

"We've actually got another film that we'll be making after Hunt for Gollum. So I thought I should tell you a little bit about that. Oh, actually, why don't I get somebody else to explain it? Because we've got a very special partner that we're working with."

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At that, Jackson brought in Colbert to talk about the new project that comes after "Hunt for Gollum."

"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 that y'all never developed into the first movie back in the day. It's basically the chapter is Three is Company through Fog on The Barrow Downs.

"And 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?'"

"And I started talking it over with my son, Peter, who's also a screenwriter, and we worked out what we thought would work, especially as a framing device for that story. And 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 went on.

"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 the story, and we recently took it to Richard Brener at New Line and Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca at Warner Brothers. And I could not be happier to say that they loved it, and so that's what we're going to be working on."

"Fantastic," Jackson said, asking Colbert if he would have the time to do it.

"I did not think I would have the time as much as I love it," Colbert said. "I knew I couldn't do that and do the show at the same time. But it turns out I'm going to be free starting this summer."

"So isn't that fortunate?" Jackson quipped.

"Isn't that a eucatastrophe right there?" Colbert said. "So if you'll excuse me, I've got to finish the television show and I've got to write a movie script, but I will see you all in the Shire."

Colbert's show was canceled as it launched into its 11th season. Colbert's hosting of the show began in September 2015 and has come under fire for not platforming conservatives and being a partisan, Democrat-backing show. At one point during his final season, Colbert said comparing US immigration enforcement officials to Nazis was unfair to Nazis. Leftists blamed Trump for the cancellation of The Late Show even as viewership has tanked. A few people protested the move.

Paramount is slated to purchase Warner Bros. in a massive merger, though the details are still being worked out. The offer to buy from Paramount came amid an attempted merger between Warner Bros. and Netflix, which was disrupted by Paramount's bid. Democrats in Congress are demanding that the FCC review the deal over alleged foreign investment. Paramount also owns CBS, the network that airs Colbert's The Late Show.

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