Tolkien Fans React to Stephen Colbert News
After director Peter Jackson announced that comedian Stephen Colbert is developing a “LOTR” movie, reaction online skewed pessimistic. “This is an absolutely terrible idea and heretical to Tolkien who had briefly pondered a sequel and abruptly abandoned it because his story was complete,” someone wrote. “Colbert should know better.”
Several people said Tolkien is “spinning in his grave” at the news of Colbert’s involvement. Others called the project a “cash grab” and a bad “early April Fool’s joke.” Being a superfan doesn’t qualify someone for tackling such a major project, others said.
Some comments referenced the liberal political views of Colbert, a vocal critic of President Trump. The comedian “fundamentally misunderstands the message and the core of the story as it doesn’t align with his worldview,” noted one commenter, “thus the very soul of this project will be tainted with themes antithetical to Tolkien’s work.”
Other LOTR fans said they’re holding out hope for “Shadow of the Past.” A podcaster who runs the X account “The Middle-earth Mixer” posted:
Admittedly, this concept is interesting to me, and Stephen Colbert’s passion for LOTR and his personal Catholic faith (although it doesn’t seem to penetrate his public beliefs at all) seems to be the only things he doesn’t have brain worms about so maybe he could tell a faithful adaptation. My outlook though is grim because nothing that comes out of Hollywood for the most part has the ability to properly capture Light and Truth unless it’s by accident.
