The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past cover art
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The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past

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.

ReleaseTBA
StatusTBA
StudioNew Line Cinema

Why it matters

New Line Cinema adds another entry to the Lord of the Rings franchise, extending the world first popularized by Peter Jackson’s award‑winning trilogy.

About The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past

Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema announced The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past in March 2026, in a video featuring Peter Jackson that went out on Tolkien Reading Day. The plan is to film the stretch of The Fellowship of the Ring that Jackson's trilogy skipped past, the chapters covering the long gap between Bilbo's birthday party and the hobbits leaving the Shire, framed by a later journey in which Sam, Merry and Pippin walk the same road again years after Frodo has gone.

Stephen Colbert is co-writing, with his son Peter McGee and with Philippa Boyens, who worked on all of Jackson's Middle-earth films, and WingNut Films is producing. The title is a working one, no director has been confirmed, and the date is still to be confirmed. It is a separate project from The Hunt for Gollum, the Andy Serkis film dated for December 2027, and the earlier of the two in Tolkien's chronology.

FantasyAdventureAction
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AnnouncementMar 25, 2026

The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past (Working Title) - Official Announcement Video

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