For most people, loving “The Lord of the Rings” means watching the extended editions every few years and maybe owning a copy of the books. For Stephen Colbert, it has meant something considerably more involved.
Over the course of his career, first on “The Colbert Report” and then on “The Late Show,” Colbert has made his Tolkien obsession one of the most well-documented fan relationships in television history. He has debated Elvish linguistics on air, beaten the franchise’s own Oscar-winning screenwriter in a trivia contest and directed a Middle-earth short film starring the original cast. Peter Jackson, who has met a few Tolkien fans in his time, declared him the biggest he had ever encountered. The one thing he hasn’t done is write a feature film script.
But no matter — that lifelong devotion has landed Colbert a credit that most fans could only ever dream of. Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema confirmed that Colbert will co-write “The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past” alongside screenwriter Philippa Boyens and Colbert’s son Peter McGee, with Jackson producing. The film, which draws from six chapters of “The Fellowship of the Ring” that Jackson never adapted, is set 14 years after the passing of Frodo, following Sam, Merry and Pippin as they retrace the first steps of their journey while Sam’s daughter Elanor uncovers a secret that nearly cost them everything.
It’s one of the most logical jobs for a superfan in Hollywood history. Here are seven moments that explain exactly why.
‘LOTR’ Director Peter Jackson declared Colbert the biggest Tolkien geek he had ever met
Image Credit: ©New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection When Colbert visited the New Zealand set of “The Hobbit,” Jackson arranged a trivia face-off between his guest and the film’s resident Tolkien authority Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and won an Academy Award for “The Return of the King.” Colbert won.
“I have never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life. His encyclopedic knowledge of Tolkien is spectacular, and points to a deprived childhood in some respects,” Jackson told Entertainment Weekly in 2012. That “deprived childhood” included, by Colbert’s own account, abandoning schoolwork, quitting sports and spending his teenage years absorbed in not just “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings,” but the full sweep of Tolkien’s writing. Now the man who beat the franchise’s own screenwriter at her own game is writing the next film alongside her.
Colbert has a cameo in ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’
Image Credit: ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ Colbert appeared as a Lake-town spy in the 2013 sequel, squeezing into frame during the scene where Bard’s son warns of men watching the house. His wife, Evelyn McGee-Colbert, and their sons Peter and John came along for the ride and got their own cameos in the scene.
Colbert teased the appearance on “Late Show with David Letterman” as a game of “Where’s Waldo,” declining to reveal where in the film to find him. Jackson later broke down the cameo in a video posted to the Late Show’s social channels.
Colbert and Liv Tyler reenacted a ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ scene — in Elvish
Image Credit: Credit: Scott Kowalchyk/CBS When Tyler appeared on “The Late Show” in 2018, ostensibly to promote her Hulu series “Harlots,” she arrived with a gift. Tucked behind Colbert’s desk was Arwen’s sword Hadhafang, the prop blade Jackson had given her from the original films.
Colbert greeted her on air by her full Elvish name, “Arwen Undómiel, the evening star of her people,” then asked if she would “indulge in a fantasy” of his, quickly assuring the audience it was “safe for TV.” She obliged and with Colbert crouched in her lap as Frodo, Tyler raised the blade and delivered the line, “If you want him, come and claim him,” first in English, then in Elvish, from memory, two decades after filming. Colbert audibly whooped.
Watch the full interview below.
Colbert reunited the ‘Lord of the Rings’ cast to celebrate 20 years of ‘Fellowship’ with a rap tribute
Image Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTube In December 2021, with the 20th anniversary of “The Fellowship of the Ring” days away and no official celebration in sight, Colbert took matters into his own hands.
“Harry Potter is getting a giant 20th-anniversary special with a full cast reunion,” he told his audience. “I think Peter Jackson’s towering achievement deserves the same kind of treatment.”
What followed was “#1 Trilly,” a full rap video — shot in ’90s-inspired costuming, with Colbert in a replica of Frodo’s mithril shirt — featuring Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Method Man and Killer Mike. Weaving even delivered a verse in Elvish. Colbert noted it was also the 20th anniversary of him “not shutting up about ‘The Lord of the Rings.’”
Watch the performance below:
Colbert moderated ‘The Hobbit’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con in full costume
Image Credit: Getty Images Chris Hardwick was originally scheduled to moderate the “Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” panel at San Diego Comic-Con in 2014. He was more than happy to hand off the duties when Colbert showed up.
Dressed as the Lake-town Spy from his “Desolation of Smaug” cameo, Colbert walked out alongside his similarly costumed son, opened with “If I could only go back in time and show this to my 13-year-old self,” and then delivered what became one of the most talked-about fan speeches in Comic-Con history. He told the crowd that when he first heard Jackson was adapting the trilogy, he was terrified. “I was worried that somehow he would take away my treasure, my horde of precious Middle-earth stories. It was a very possessive, obsessive, very dragon-y feeling.”
As his fears gave way to hope, he said what he really wanted was for his “head full of facts from Fëanor to Faramir” to finally have some social value, so that someone might ask him about Tolkien and he could say, “Yes, oh God yes, I will.” The crowd went crazy.
Colbert wrote, directed and starred in a Middle-earth short film with the original cast
Image Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTube In 2019, Colbert wrote, directed and starred in “Darrylgorn,” an eight-minute short film — produced as a Late Show segment — about Aragorn’s less celebrated brother, a mysterious and overlooked hero of Middle-earth. Jackson, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood all appeared.
The film racked up roughly a million YouTube views in its first month. It remains one of the more remarkable things a fan has ever pulled off: assembling the director and three stars of one of the most beloved film trilogies in history to appear in your original Middle-earth comedy because they like you that much. It is also, in retrospect, a proof of concept.
Watch “Darrylgorn” on the Late Show here:
Colbert used his Tolkien expertise to intervene in a Turkish criminal case
Image Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert YouTube In 2015, a Turkish physician named Bilgin Çiftçi lost his job and faced up to two years in prison for posting a meme comparing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Gollum (insulting a head of state being a punishable offense under Turkish law). His defense argued the photos actually depicted Sméagol, the character’s gentler, heroic alter ego.
The court called for a Tolkien expert. Colbert volunteered on air, dressed as Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and delivered a painstakingly researched case for the defense. “When I spent my entire teenage years reading all of Tolkien — not just ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” he told his audience, “I knew I was preparing myself for something important.”
He was later joined in the defense by Jackson, Walsh and Boyens, who issued a joint statement. Çiftçi was ultimately acquitted.
Watch the clip below.
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