What Is Stephen Colbert Doing Next After ‘Late Show’s Ending?

Following CBS’s controversial cancellation of The Late Show last summer, Stephen Colbert has now said goodbye to late-night.

On Thursday (May 21) night, the comedic TV host emceed his last show, with a bevy of celebrity guests, and signed off for the last time after 11 years on the air.

So what’s next for Colbert?

“As we get close to the end, a lot of people are asking me, ‘What’s next for Stephen T. Colbert?’” the comedian said on an April Late Show episode, leading up to the series’ finale. “Well, internet rumors continue to run wild.”

Colbert then listed recent reports that he’s moving to CNN after The Late Show and that he’s launching a wildlife rescue program — and the ongoing speculation about him possibly running for U.S. president.

“Now, here’s the thing. I can tell you tonight … that all of those are partially true. Next year, I will be president of an animal sanctuary dedicated to caring for the rare Blitzer wolf,” he said, as the audience saw a mocked-up image of Colbert bottle-feeding CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. “It’s a captive breeding program. Nobody tell him.”

Colbert then (jokingly) announced another career move, showing off a faux-trailer for an “hour-long network procedural drama torn straight from today’s headlines,” titled Uncle Cops and costarring John C. Reilly. “It’s the gripping tale of two detectives who are also uncles,” Colbert explained. “How can they be both? It ain’t easy, folks.”

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We do know one actual career move for Colbert: He previously announced he is co-writing a new film in the Lord of the Rings franchise, tentatively subtitled Shadow of the Past.

In a YouTube video, Colbert said he had an idea to develop a film based on six chapters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring that weren’t included in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of that novel. Now he’s set to turn those chapters into Shadow of the Past alongside two other screenwriters: Peter McGee, his son, and Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies.

“I did not think I would have the time, as much as I love it,” Colbert admitted in the video. “I knew I couldn’t do that and do [The Late Show] at the same time.”

Then he quipped, “But it turns out I’m going to be free starting this summer.”

Given his work ethic, we have to imagine he’s already getting started on that endeavor.

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