Late-night host Stephen Colbert will co-write a new "Lord of the Rings" movie, adapting early chapters of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" that were not included in Peter Jackson's original film trilogy, Warner Bros. has announced.

The project, currently using the working title "The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past," will be produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema as part of the expanding Middle-earth film slate. It is expected to follow "The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum," which begins production in New Zealand later this year.

Colbert will write the screenplay alongside his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, and longtime "Lord of the Rings" writer Philippa Boyens, according to the New York Times. Director Peter Jackson introduced Colbert as a "special partner" on the film in a video announcement shared on social media.

The story will adapt a run of early "Fellowship of the Ring" chapters, from "Three Is Company" through "Fog on the Barrow-downs," material that did not appear in Jackson's 2001 film.

Colbert has said he became interested in building a standalone narrative from these sections while rereading the novel and noticing how they could connect with the existing movies, NPR reported.

Warner Bros. says the film will focus on the hobbits' initial journey out of the Shire and aims to remain faithful both to Tolkien's text and to the visual world of the earlier films. Early studio guidance describes a story centered on Sam, Merry, and Pippin as they retrace the first steps of their adventure after Frodo's departure.

The new writing role comes as CBS prepares to end "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in May at the conclusion of the current broadcast season. Colbert, a longtime Tolkien enthusiast who has previously cameoed in "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," is expected to shift his focus to the film once his late-night tenure closes, as per the BBC.

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Stephen Colbert, Lord of the rings