The US talkshow host’s script will focus on chapters three to eight of Tolkien’s first volume – a section Hollywood originally thought disposable but is now circling back to monetise

Comedian and avid Tolkien fan to write the Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, a new Peter Jackson-produced film based on unadapted chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring

Colbert, who is a Tolkien superfan, will adapt an early section of the first Lord of the Rings novel.