Everybody has a dream. And if you have the top-rated late night talk show, your network might even bankroll it for you.
No matter what you think of Stephen Colbert's politics, his knowledge of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth in unimpeachable. New Zealand "is such a beautiful country, such a magical place, that I'm not surprised it was used as the locations for Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies," he said on Thursday's Late Show. "And as you may know, writer and director Peter Jackson cast me in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I had the very important role of Lake-town spy. So when I was back in New Zealand, I sat down with my friend Peter and talked with him about the next logical step in the Lord of the Rings movie franchise."
Colbert's pitch to Jackson involved the human protagonist of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Aragorn. "What about this for a backstory?" Colbert asked. "My character is actually Aragorn's slightly hotter twin brother, Darrylgorn." Jackson declined to direct this literary abomination, of course, but he agreed to make a cameo. And Colbert had a trailer for his Darrylgorn spinoff ready to roll. It is quite silly, and it doesn't even make any sense, really — Aragorn would have been about 10 years old during the Hobbit movies Colbert's adult character appeared in, for example.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But that's beside the point. This is a self-referential, winking labor of love. The three Lord of the Rings movies and three Hobbit movies were box office hits, "and now, after 1,179 minutes, the real saga finally begins," the voiceover to the trailer intones. Watch below. Peter Weber
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
