Peter Jackson Reveals Stephen Colbert’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Project at Cannes

Peter Jackson was honoured with a Palme d’Or on opening night at the Cannes film festival, where he spoke to Variety about Stephen Colbert’s new Lord of the Rings film project. Jackson said Colbert first contacted him around a year ago with the idea for The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, before he knew his show was going to finish.

The director added that Colbert had already been developing the Tolkien adaptation before learning that CBS would end The Late Show.

Colbert, who had a cameo in Peter Jackson’s 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, sketched out a plot with his screenwriter son Peter McGee. Peter McGee appeared in The Hobbit film with Stephen Colbert 13 years ago. The idea for the project emerged while Colbert was re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring.

Jackson said Colbert worked with Philippa Boyens for a year to give shape to the project. Colbert travelled to New Zealand during the process of developing the project. “I think Steven’s actually really happy.

I think it helped him process what was rather shocking,” Jackson said. Jackson continued that the project gave Colbert something to focus on after the cancellation. ” Peter Jackson said Colbert is actually really happy.

In July 2025, CBS announced it was cancelling Colbert’s The Late Show. CBS described the cancellation as a “financial decision”. The final episode of The Late Show is scheduled to air on 21 May. The film will largely focus on the eighth chapter of the book titled “Fog on the Barrow-downs” and will include Tom Bombadil.