We’ve just learned that for the past few years, Stephen Colbert and his son Peter have been working on a script for the six chapters that were left out of Peter Jackson’s film version of Fellowship of the Ring, and will be named after one of the missing chapters: The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.

These six chapters fall between Three is Company and Fog on the Barrow-Downs, and happen right before Merry stumbles out of the Old Forest in Fellowship.

During Peter Jackson’s Tolkien Reading Day announcement, he brought Colbert onto a video call to announce the movie.

One of the very last things Jackson asked him was, “Now, do you have the time for this?”

And Colbert said, “I did not think I would have the time, as much as I love it. I knew I couldn’t do that and do this show at the same time, but it turns out that I’m going to be free starting this summer, so…”

“Isn’t that fortunate!” Jackson interjected.

“Isn’t that a ‘eucatastrophe’ right there?” Colbert finished.

With the announcement of a second upcoming Lord of the Rings movie in the works written by Stephen Colbert, Philippa Boyens, and Peter McGee, and the release of its synopsis, speculation about what the movie will be about is only just beginning.

The synopsis in the Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema press release about The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past is: “Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo – Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”

For reference, let’s take a look at the timeline that is mentioned.

Fourteen years after Frodo’s departure means the movie takes place in S.R. 1435/Fourth Age Year 14.

Elanor the Fair is born March 13, S.R. 1421, the same year that Frodo sets sail for the Undying Lands in September. Her birth day is also the start of the Fourth Age of Gondor.

Elanor will be fourteen years old at the time Shadow of the Past will take place, giving the film a young female lead.

It is set after Return of the King but explores chapters from Fellowship of the Ring that weren't even in the movie? What?

Will these be included as flashbacks or are are we moving those events to the fourth age now? Why? What is the threat or the goal here? Who is the villain? What is it about? I don't understand! No one is going to sit through a road trip movie with no stakes.

I feel like this is a desperate attempt to re-imagine Tom Bombadil so they can further distance themselves from Amazon.

The summary says Elenor is finding out how close the Fellowship came to failure. So it would seem to be an Elonor retrospective/flashback.

I'd like to see an extended focus on Bombadil, and really some concrete revelation about his true nature and origin. No leaving it up to interpretation and the "Mystery Box." That said, I'm pretty sure I'll be disappointed on this bit.

I would rather see a bad job of de-aging than recasts. But even fans can do a great job of de-aging now, so I think it will be well done as far as that goes, if done that way. I'm making no claims, however, on the quality of the script. And in today's Hollywood of race-swaps, gender-swaps, and unrealistic girl-bosses, there's plenty of room for that kind of self-inflicted damage.