The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will come to an end in May on the 2026 TV schedule. Meaning, after eleven seasons, the long-time host will be done with his show, and he’ll be moving on to other projects. One of those projects is a Lord of the Rings movie he’s writing. Now, you might be wondering: How did he decide to do that? Well, it would seem that a choice one Saturday Night Live vet made when they left the NBC show may have inspired him.
While going from late-night to writing a fantasy film seems kind of random, Colbert’s LOTR fandom makes it obvious that he’s made a passionate and clever career move. His conversation on Smartless (which was released on April 6, but was recorded in March, a week before the Lord of the Rings announcement, per The Wrap) about what he’s doing next also seemingly helps explain his choice, too. Speaking about his plans and how he was inspired by Bill Hader when it came to them, the host said:
I’ll tell you, the person who did the thing I most admire, I mean, not most admire, but the thing that really struck me is, you know what Hader did when he left SNL? He went and wrote for South Park for a season.
When Hader’s second child was born, he left SNL. While he’s considered a legend of the show, Hader had a hard time performing on it. So, after eight seasons, he said goodbye. His final show was in 2013, and after that, he went on to work as a full-time writer on South Park, per Vulture. He did continue to act; however, this pivot is very notable, seeing as it’s not what we typically see from long-time Saturday Night Live performers right when they exit the show.
Thinking about that, Colbert realized a pivot like this was what he wanted to do, explaining on the podcast:
I said, ‘Man, that’s the perfect thing to do.’ Just go serve something that you love already. See, can I be of service to people whose work I really admire? I thought that’s a great thing to do. Don’t even worry about your status of your previous gig. Just go do something you love.
Now, while Colbert didn’t specifically name his Lord of the Rings project, his thinking here 100% aligns with his next career choice. During the podcast, he wouldn’t say what he was doing next, but he did note, “I got some things I do want to do.” When this was recorded, his writing project wasn’t publicly announced. However, now that it is, it’s easy to connect the dots here.
Much like Bill Hader going to write for South Park after performing on SNL, Colbert’s next career move is a hard pivot. However, it’s also a logical one, and it’s one that’s driven by what he loves. Hader had a history with the animated series, and he adores it. The same is true for the late-night host and Lord of the Rings. So, the inspiration seems pretty clear to me.
However, Colbert has a show to finish first. The Late Show will end on May 21. However, until then, you can catch new episodes on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS (or you can stream them with a Paramount+ subscription). Then, it’ll be time for the host to get writing his Lord of the Rings movie, and try out something different that lives in a realm he loves.
