Stephen Colbert’s Lord of the Rings film has reportedly been put on hold after the Warner Bros. merger

The world of The Lord of the Rings on screen has always been less threatened by creative burnout than by wheeling and dealing on the corporate side. Between the chaos that surrounded The Hobbit productions, tangled rights now chopped between a Swedish gaming giant and a major studio, and a brief foray into anime with The War of the Rohirrim (which, let’s be honest, barely made a splash at the box office), it’s a franchise that seems most vulnerable when there are boardroom shakeups. Not a small issue for a series built around eye-watering production costs.

So when Warner Bros. tried to make a real event out of reviving Middle-earth in 2023—dragging Peter Jackson and his old crew back on board—anyone paying attention had to wonder: would Warner still be around, in its usual shape, when it’s actually time to get things in front of the camera? Now, barely two years later, that has become a real problem. The second film in Warner’s planned slate has just been shelved, coincidentally just days after Warner Bros (the entity, not just the logo) ceased to exist as an independent company. Not exactly reassuring timing, is it?

The completed merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has reportedly pushed The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past onto indefinite hold.

The New Film on Ice

The film in question here—The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past—was making headlines as recently as March. Stephen Colbert announced during Tolkien Reading Day (for the lore nerds, that’s the anniversary of when Sauron finally gets his comeuppance) that he was co-writing the script. Hardcore Tolkien fans might know that title from one of the early chapters in Fellowship; Knight Edge Media is now saying the freshly merged Skydance (Paramount’s new prize after the not-exactly-petty $110 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery) has slammed the brakes on the film. Not cancelled, officially—just sitting quietly in the corner, not moving forward.

Now, here’s where it gets messy: production had been rumoured to start not long after Andy Serkis’ The Hunt for Gollum finishes shooting in New Zealand—which is currently all set for cameras rolling through to October. That sequence would have had Shadow of the Past moving into production this year. All of that is now up in smoke. Reports, rounded up by CBR, say the Colbert project isn’t dead, but major development hurdles have popped up. Yes, Colbert might keep working on the script, quietly, but no one’s expecting to see a film crew anytime soon.

Waiting on Gollum

The reason for this sudden loss of momentum is painfully straightforward: the people holding the purse strings want to see whether The Hunt for Gollum actually delivers before committing to anything else. Considering The War of the Rohirrim didn’t exactly set ticket tills ringing and live-action Tolkien hasn’t had a proper film outing since 2014, you can see their point—even if it means fans lose out (again).

• The Hunt for Gollum (director: Andy Serkis, cast includes Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Jamie Dornan, Anya Taylor-Joy) is filming in Wellington until October 2026, with a release set for 17 December 2027.
• Shadow of the Past was intended to follow up soon after, but is now paused until Gollum’s reception is clear.

Corporate reshuffles always bring the axe for inherited projects; ask Marvel fans what happened when Disney bought Fox back in 2019. A slate gets announced, merger papers get signed, and half of what was promised disappears into the ether. It’s almost tradition at this point.

The Pitch Fans Actually Wanted

Which is a real shame in this instance, because Shadow of the Past was arguably the only meat-on-the-bone pitch in the whole planned slate. Unlike the usual spin-offs and invented side stories, the Colbert script was actually going for the good stuff: the bits Peter Jackson couldn’t fit into the films—think Old Forest, Barrow-downs, and Tom Bombadil. All the classic Fellowship chapters fans never got. Colbert’s Tolkien knowledge is the real deal—he wrote it with his son and with renowned franchise scribe Philippa Boyens, so this was nobody’s PR stunt. It felt, for once, like someone was making these films for people who care and know their material.