Peter Jackson has opened up about his collaboration with Stephen Colbert on a new The Lord of the Rings movie. The director has shed light on his working timeline following an unexpected setback for the late-night talk show host.

Peter Jackson reveals when Stephen Colbert pitched his Lord of the Rings movie

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, Peter Jackson discussed the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie and praised Colbert, saying he’s “never met anyone who knows more about Tolkien” than the late-night talk show host. “He phoned me up a year ago — before he knew his show was going to finish — and said, ‘I don’t know if you’re interesting, but I’ve got an idea for a Tolkien movie based on the books that I think would be really good,’” said Jackson, reports Variety.

Jackson was impressed by Colbert’s idea for the new LOTR movie, and even introduced him to his longtime collaborator, Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies with him. Colbert also went to New Zealand to get a closer look at the filmmaker’s team.

Jackson revealed that while he and Colbert were in the middle of working on the new Lord of the Rings movie, the late-night host met an unexpected setback after CBS canceled The Late Show, which will air its final episode on May 21, 2026. While the situation was undoubtedly difficult for Colbert, Jackson suggested that having a major project like LOTR in his hands could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

“I think Stephen’s actually really happy —I think it helped him process [something that] what was rather shocking,” he said. “So it was like, okay, one day he’s going to be a late-night talk show host, and the next day he’s going to be a Tolkien scriptwriter.”

As for their new movie, its current working title is The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past. It will follow the upcoming Andy Serkis film, The Hunt for Gollum.

Jackson and Colbert’s LOTR movie is yet to receive an exact release date window.