We might still be in the very early stages of The Hunt for Gollum being an actual movie, but time waits for no man—or in this case, no Hobbit.
To mark Tolkien Reading Day—a celebration of the esteemed Lord of the Rings scribe’s work, on the day in the Middle-earth calendar when Sauron is defeated with the destruction of the One Ring—Warner Bros. has announced another new movie in the series is in development: Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.
The new film will be produced by WingNut Films in association with Spartina Industries and written by Phillipa Boyens, Peter McGee, and Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert. It is set 14 years after the climax of Return of the King and Frodo’s passage into the West for his role in bearing the One Ring to Mordor.
Shadow of the Past will see Sam, Merry, and Pippin reunite to “retrace the first steps of their adventure,” according to a press release provided by Warner Bros., while Sam’s daughter, Elanor, goes on an unlikely quest of her own—uncovering a long-lost secret about the early days of the War of the Ring that almost saw the mission to destroy the One Ring doomed before it even really began.
According to Colbert in a new interview shared by Warner Bros., he developed the idea—inspired by five chapters from Fellowship of the Ring not covered in Jackson’s movie, where the Hobbits encounter the mysterious Tom Bombadil while fleeing the Black Riders—two years ago with his son, adding to Jackson that it “took a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call… you liked it enough to talk to me about it.” Colbert initially did not plan on helping to write the script until the end of his time on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was announced last year, paving the way for him to begin working on the project in earnest this summer.
No details on casting for Shadow of the Past were confirmed, but given the framing device, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see Warner Bros. attempt to bring back Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd to reprise their roles as Sam, Merry, and Pippin, respectively.
We’ll bring you more on Warner Bros.’ plans for Lord of the Rings as and when we learn them.
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