Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings movie, Shadow of the Past, is repeating one of the franchise's biggest risks — and it's one that hasn't paid off yet. Colbert will co-write Warner Bros.' newly announced film, which will revisit six book chapters cut from Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring movie. Although it will take us back to the original trilogy's timeline, it will frame the story from after The Return of the King. Sam's daughter, Elanor, will be a central focus, as will Sam, Merry, and Pippin.
This sort of framing is similar to The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim's, though it's more obviously connected to Frodo's journey. That could prove a selling point for fans feeling nostalgic for Jackson's films. However, it comes with major challenges. And it's surprising Warner Bros. is plowing ahead with such a risky approach, especially when The Hunt for Gollum isn't out yet. Its performance should offer insight into how The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past will fare. However, we won't know what its reception looks like until its December 2027 release.
Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings film is repeating The Hunt for Gollum's biggest risk
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum may have promising creatives like Jackson and Andy Serkis behind it, but it's taking a big swing with its return to the original LOTR trilogy. Although cast members like Serkis and Sir Ian McKellen are reprising their roles, there are rumors that Aragorn will be recast. And major changes like that could prove jarring, taking viewers out of this story. That's obviously concerning, and it creates continuity problems for Warner Bros.' Lord of the Rings franchise.
That's not the only way it does so, either. Movies like The Hunt for Gollum and Shadow of the Past also risk retconning Jackson's original series, which doesn't mention any of the events either film will cover. The Fellowship of the Ring breezes past Gandalf's research on the One Ring and Frodo's departure from the Shire, condensing the timeline of the books significantly. Sure, Aragorn and Gandalf could have searched for Gollum during that time, but we're given little reason to believe they did on-screen.
That change isn't nearly as frustrating as what Shadow of the Past will need to do: invent a whole detour for Frodo and the hobbits that we, somehow, don't see or hear about in The Fellowship of the Ring. As we're following them through the movie's beginning, it's harder to explain away this one. Unless Colbert's project gives Tom Bombadil some wild memory-wiping powers, it's difficult to understand why they'd never mention him or the Barrow-wight who almost cut their journey short. Even with a workaround like that, viewers would have seen the whole thing unfold. It's a gamble that risks taking them out of the story, and that could hurt both the upcoming film and Jackson's trilogy.
The Hunt for Gollum could set Shadow of the Past up to fail
While revisiting the events of The Lord of the Rings movies is a big risk for Warner Bros. to take, it's not necessarily impossible to do it correctly. Whether this approach becomes a successful and welcome one will largely depend on The Hunt for Gollum, which faces a lot of pressure to get it right.
Broadly, The Hunt for Gollum may dictate the future of the LOTR franchise on-screen. It will determine whether fans are willing to come back to Middle-earth after divisive releases like Amazon's The Rings of Power and Warner Bros.' most recent film, The War of the Rohirrim. And on a smaller scale, it will decide whether they're game to suspend disbelief and return to the original trilogy. That's the biggest question the film needs to answer, and if it's not a resounding yes, it could spell trouble for Shadow of the Past.
The Hunt for Gollum doing poorly, both in terms of reception and at the box office, could also set Colbert's LOTR film up to fail, as it would be yet another disappointment from the franchise. Too many will push even diehard fans of Tolkien's work to stop going out to theaters — a tragic result, considering Middle-earth's screen potential.
Needless to say, The Hunt for Gollum's success is the key to Shadow of the Past's. It's somewhat surprising Warner Bros. isn't waiting to see if one gamble pays off before embracing a similar one. Hopefully, the studio's confidence is warranted. It'd be nice to look forward to a major LOTR release in theaters again.