Stephen Colbert’s late-night world changed fast after CBS canceled The Late Show in July 2025. While he’s remained measured about the network, he’s also working on a new screenwriting project: The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, co-written with his son
Stephen Colbert became an unwilling symbol of late-night disruption when The Late Show ended in July 2025. In the weeks that followed, comedians and colleagues offered him a sendoff, while criticism piled onto CBS for what many saw as stripping away a long-running legacy.
CBS has said the shutdown was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” adding that it was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” Still, the timing and surrounding business headlines fueled pushback.
Just weeks before The Late Show’s cancellation, CBS settled a lawsuit with Donald Trump for $16 million. Trump had sued the network, accusing it of editing Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview. Colbert. despite maintaining a gracious public stance toward CBS executives. said he believed there was more at play behind the scenes.
“There are many people who believe there was another reason [for my cancelation]. And. as I said in the most measured tones I could muster. there is a reason why people believe that — the network had clearly already done it once by cutting that $16 million check [to the Trump administration]. ” Colbert said. “Me being canceled reinforced a narrative that CBS already had a nimbus of knee-bending that they had created around themselves. because even their lawyers said there was no reason to cut the check. and then they did and gave no rationale for why they changed their minds. and then suddenly they got their broadcast license.”.
Colbert’s next chapter, however, was already in motion before the cancellation.
He’d agreed to co-write the script for The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past about a year before CBS gutted The Late Show. As an outspoken LOTR fan, Colbert will co-write the screenplay with his son Peter McGee and series screenwriter Philippa Boyens.
Producer Peter Jackson previously revealed Colbert’s involvement in a social media video posted weeks before The Late Show’s final episode. In that video. Colbert said. “It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile to give you a call. but about two years ago I did. ” explaining. “You liked it enough to talk to me about it. and ever since then. the two of us have been working with the brilliant Philippa Boyens on how to develop this story.”.
Shadow of the Past will arrive after the next installment, The Hunt of Gollum, which is scheduled to be in theaters next year.
Not long after The Late Show ended, Colbert also returned to late-night TV by making an appearance on a local Michigan station.
CBS did not replace Colbert as host. Instead, it canceled The Late Show altogether, and the network offered another option in the time slot. Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed will replace The Late Show in its timeslot.
In the middle of the break—between what CBS says was a financial decision and what Colbert believes the public still sees as a deeper story—his focus is now moving forward, script by script, toward Middle-earth.
Stephen Colbert The Late Show CBS cancellation July 2025 The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past Peter McGee Philippa Boyens Peter Jackson The Hunt of Gollum Byron Allen Comics Unleashed