What Story Could Stephen Colbert's Lord Of The Rings Movie Cover?

J.R.R. Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert is officially becoming a part of the Middle-earth cinematic experience. In a reveal video, Peter Jackson joined Colbert to announce a "Lord of the Rings" sequel film titled, at least for the time being, "The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past." The title is the name of the second chapter of Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" book, but Colbert clarified that the movie he's working on — in addition to featuring a frame story that takes place after the events of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy — will cover some material from the "Fellowship" novel that Jackson and company didn't include in their film adaptation:

"The thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in 'The Fellowship' that ya'll never developed into the first movie back in the day [...] and I thought, 'Oh wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story.'"

The six chapters Colbert is talking about come right after "The Shadow of the Past," early in the "Fellowship of the Ring" book. With respect to Jackson's movie adaptation, they occur after Frodo (Elijah Wood) and his fellow Hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan), Pippin (Billy Boyd), and Sam (Sean Astin), are nearly caught by Black Riders in the woods and then suddenly show up in the pouring rain at the gates of Bree. The obvious question? What do those six skipped chapters contain that could be worth adapting into an entirely separate film? Let's break it down.

The first three chapters that Stephen Colbert is adapting from the "Fellowship of the Ring" novel are "Three is Company," "A Shortcut to Mushrooms," and "A Conspiracy Unmasked." Some of this material was previously covered in Peter Jackson's film adaptation, of course, like the Hobbits stealing veggies from Farmer Cotton's crops and nearly getting caught by Black Riders.

As the quartet of Hobbits prepare to leave the Shire, though, Jackson's movie jumps from them crossing the Brandywine Bridge on the Bucklebury Ferry to them suddenly in Bree. The original book, on the other hand, has them going from the Ferry to Frodo's new house, called Crickhollow, which he bought after selling Bag End. There, they meet a fellow Hobbit named Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger, who helps them get on their way and even stays behind to pretend Frodo is still living in his new home.

In J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, this is also the point where Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Fatty reveal their "conspiracy" — basically, the fact that they have been fully aware that Frodo is leaving the Shire this entire time, and they're prepared to go with him. In other words, they don't just tag along on a whim, due to a chance encounter, like in Jackson's film. 

It'll be interesting, then, to see how Colbert adjusts these details to better fit with the way things play out in Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies. Regardless, this is where the mini "between the lines" adventure that Colbert mentioned gets going. From there, the next three chapters — titled "The Old Forest," "In the House of Tom Bombadil," and "Fog on the Barrow-Downs" — take the action past the borders of the Shire.

After leaving Crickhollow, Frodo and his friends travel through an inhospitable stretch of forest bordering the Shire that feels a lot like Fangorn Forest without the Ents. The trees are alive and semi-mobile, and one named Old Man Willow captures the Hobbits and nearly kills them. Luckily, they're saved by the timely intervention of the peculiar Tom Bombadil (who made his live-action debut in "The Rings of Power" season 2).

Bombadil then takes the Hobbits to his house to rest for a few days. After that, they head right into the haunted area of the Barrow Downs and are captured by a barrow-wight (creepy villains who've also shown up in "The Rings of Power"), only to escape thanks to some timely heroics by Frodo and Bombadil. From there, Bombadil helps them make their way to the nearby village of Bree. Meanwhile, Strider the ranger (i.e. Aragorn) secretly follows them to the village and its inn, the Prancing Pony. The next scene would then be the shot of Frodo arriving at the village's gates in the pouring rain from Peter Jackson's "Fellowship of the Ring" movie adaptation.

There's definitely plenty of fresh material for Stephen Colbert's script to draw from, then. The question is, can he create a compelling story from those chapters that fits into a larger narrative? There are plenty of reasons to be worried about this "Lord of the Rings" sequel. But, for the more hopeful, the fact that superfan Colbert is working with Jackson and his stalwart co-writers Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh is enough to keep keep some J.R.R. Tolkien fans cautiously optimistic, this poor one included.

"The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past" has yet to set a firm release date.