Pierre Vinet/New Line/Saul Zaentz/Wing Nut/Kobal/ShutterstockPeter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is the ultimate adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s saga, covering the three hefty books over the course of 12 epic hours. But even they didn’t cover everything: another trilogy covering the Hobbit prequel would follow, and now the universe is expanding even further with The Hunt for Gollum, the spinoff movie directed by Gollum himself, Andy Serkis.And the Ringsverse isn’t stopping there. Even though The Hunt for Gollum is still in production, another movie is already being teased, and this one comes from a Tolkien superfan. In a social media post where Peter Jackson provided an update on The Hunt for Gollum, we also got our first word on what’s next: a movie written by CBS Late Show host (and Tolkien superfan) Stephen Colbert. Tentatively titled Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, the movie adapts the first few chapters in Frodo’s adventure, including when fan-favorite character Tom Bombadil (who was cut from the movies) rescues the Hobbits from Barrow-wights. In a twist, however, this won’t be a literal prequel-style retelling. Instead, it’s set after Frodo passes away, and his old friends Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace their adventure. There’s even a next-generation moment, as the movie will also follow Sam’s daughter, Elanor. Colbert’s schedule has lightened since his late-night show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was abruptly canceled by Paramount. His last episode is scheduled for May, and then he’ll begin working on this movie, co-writing with his son, Peter McGee, and Philippa Boyens, a franchise veteran who’s helped write every Lord of the Rings movie so far. Colbert’s love of The Lord of the Rings is no secret. He’s always expressed his fandom, having done everything from hosting con panels about it to interviewing its cast members. In an infamous clip, he once played — and largely succeeded at — an extremely difficult trivia game with Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, who played Pippin and Merry.Colbert may not have much screenwriting experience, but he’s still been writing all of his career, having worked on The Dana Carvey Show, Saturday Night Live, and The Daily Show, and co-creating the series Strangers With Candy with Amy Sedaris. He’s also not new to writing adventures set in Middle-Earth. In 2019, while visiting New Zealand, Colbert filmed a Late Show sketch starring himself as “Darrylgorn,” the “ruggedly handsome” twin brother of Aragorn, the true identity of his Desolation of Smaug cameo character, “Laketown Spy.” Sure, it contains a joke about Ent fellatio and a rant about the logistics of the Palantir, but if this is what Colbert can do with a 10-minute short, then he and some experienced co-writers can absolutely deliver a feature script. Maybe we’ll even get to see the Laketown Spy rise again.