Stephen Colbert may no longer be the host of The Late Show, but his mark on pop culture is sure to endure. One of the biggest things he’s doing after his late-night gig will be to co-write a new Lord of the Rings movie, and a few years back, he got to flex those muscles in a very cool way.
Back in 2021, during the heart of the pandemic, Alamo Drafthouse recruited Colbert to host a series of Zoom reunions with the casts of all three Lord of the Rings movies. Colbert, of course, is notoriously a massive fan and a pretty fantastic host, so it seemed like the perfect pairing. These were first seen exclusively in theaters and then were only available on a 4K boxed set of the trilogy. They were never released online. Until now.
This week, Drafthouse finally uploaded all three chats online for the first time. And it’s quite the lineup. For The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Colbert speaks with the Hobbits themselves, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and Elijah Wood. For The Two Towers, Colbert goes a little taller with Viggo Mortensen, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, and Liv Tyler. Then, for The Return of the King, the King indeed returned as Jackson spoke with the mastermind behind the trilogy, Peter Jackson, as well as Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis. Here they are:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
What really shines through here, especially from a Colbert perspective, is just how happy this world and these movies make him. We know he’s never written a movie before, but it just feels like a case of a massive fan getting a chance to contribute to the thing he loves the most. And that’s cool. Plus, unfortunately, he’s got plenty of time to work on it.
And while we’re on the topic, just figured it’s a good time to remind everyone that this happened.
You can read more about Colbert’s upcoming Lord of the Rings film here. What was your favorite moment of the reunions?
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