Multiple Lord of the Rings movies being in the works probably wasn’t on anyone’s 2026 bingo card, yet news that a brand-new movie, co-written by none other than Stephen Colbert, is in development has confirmed exactly that. The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past is a brand-new movie, reportedly set 14 years after the conclusion of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, in which Frodo departs the mortal world for Valinor, or the Undying Lands, along with Bilbo and Gandalf. This new story will focus on hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam, along with Sam’s daughter.
Merry, Pippin, and Sam had endured many horrors throughout the original trilogy—although not nearly as many as Frodo—but they ultimately had very happy endings. Yes, they were heartbroken to say goodbye to Frodo in the end, but they had survived a harrowing journey and returned to the Shire as heroes. Sam also married Rosie Cotton, whom he had long had feelings for, and had children. This is apparently where the new story picks up, with the hobbits retracing the steps of their previous journey. The trouble is, this movie is about to break J.R.R. Tolkien’s own rules.
Tolkien Didn’t Want A Sequel After Return of the King
There’s little doubt that J.R.R Tolkien wrote some of the greatest fantasy stories of all time with The Hobbit and the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact, not only are the books brilliant in their own right, but also, these stories stood the test of time, as (along with some excellent help from Peter Jackson) the trilogy movies became some of the best book adaptations of all time as well.
It makes sense that after such an epic conclusion with Return of the King, it would be difficult to write a sequel book, and it turns out that Tolkien started to but ultimately decided against it. Specifically, Tolkien reportedly had a scrapped sequel story to Return of the King, tentatively titled The New Shadow, that was set about 100 years after the War of the Ring.
There isn’t much to go off of, as there were evidently only about 13 pages of that story ever written—a massive deviation from the stories he ultimately wrote, as anyone who has picked up a Lord of the Rings book can attest. In part, it was likely difficult to move forward with something that felt as exciting as the previous story. However, with Tolkien’s apparent decision to scrap the book, it seems he decided Return of the King shouldn’t have a sequel, and now that rule is being broken.
Colbert’s Movie Borrows From Tolkien’s Scrapped Story
There is likewise currently little to go off of when it comes to Colbert’s new Lord of the Rings movie, which he will reportedly be co-writing with Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee, his son. However, the title alone, Shadow of the Past, immediately has a connection to Tolkien’s scrapped story The New Shadow, which suggests that it will at least in part draw inspiration from that concept. This makes sense too, given that it’s confirmed Colbert’s movie will be set after Return of the King.
Yet, therein lies the very way that this movie is about to break Tolkien’s own rules and undo the original writer’s decision not to create a sequel story—and that already has fans divided. Interestingly, the movie will apparently also borrow from stories within The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring that weren’t used in Jackson’s movies, so Shadow of the Past will at least be honoring Tolkien’s own writing in that regard. Even so, creating a movie that’s set after the final installment, chronologically, that Tolkien ever wrote/published is…bold.
The Lord of the Rings Has a Lot Going on Right Now
Adding to the surprise of Shadow of the Past is the fact that this is now one of several Lord of the Rings projects in the works, in a franchise that frankly seemed dead after The Hobbit was split into a trilogy of movies that failed to deliver anything close to what the original trilogy had. In the time since, however, a Prime Video Series, The Rings of Power, has debuted, with season 3 still on the way, and a Lord of the Rings anime movie, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, was released in 2024.
Currently, yet another new Lord of the Rings movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, is also in the works, this one focused on Aragorn’s search for Gollum between The Hobbit and most of the events of The Fellowship of the Ring. That movie, in addition to this new one, has caused a stir with Lord of the Rings fans, many of whom seem to feel it’s better to leave the franchise alone. Nevertheless, Stephen Colbert’s take on The Lord of the Rings is coming with Shadow of the Past.
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