It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since the epic fantasy adventure franchise, The Lord of the Rings, debuted on the big screen. One of the biggest fans out there is Stephen Colbert, and there was no way he would let the momentous occasion pass without something special to mark it. Thus, the fellowship reunited for a show-stopping rap performance on a recent edition of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
The first movie in the imitible franchise, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring marks its 20th anniversary this month. The trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson and based on the J. R. R. Tolkien book of the same name, is a towering achievement of the genre and one of the most beloved fantasy franchises of all time, earning nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office and 17 Oscars to boot. Colbert is famously a huge LOTR fan and actually made a cameo as a Lake-town spy in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
On Wednesday's episode of his show, Colbert lamented that they would be off the air on the exact anniversary of what some see as the best entry in the LOTR film series and announced the movies as the greatest film trilogy of all time. He then drafted bandleader Jon Batiste to help him with "one celebration to rule them all," a hip-hop tribute to the franchise that he aptly named "#1 Trilly." Joining him in what was a series of surprise appearances was an impressive amount of Middle-eathers: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Noyd, Dominic Monaghan, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Orlando Bloom, and Viggo Mortensen, all with their own special rap monikers, marking a cast reunion that got the audience out of their seats. Weaving deserves special praise for his efforts, dropping bars in perfect Elvish.
Colbert also remarked that it was the 20th anniversary of him "not shutting up about The Lord of the Rings," in reference to his long obsession with the franchise. Jackson, who has appeared on Colbert's show, even once described him as the biggest "Tolkein geek" he had ever met. Indeed, in past episodes of The LateShow when stars like Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman appeared, Colbert showed his extreme love of the franchise. He is obviously not alone, with the YouTube posting of the clip on its way to 1 million views at time of writing.
With such a huge following and with the movies still so highly regarded, it does seem amiss that LOTR doesn't have any official kind of celebration planned in the same vein as the Harry Potter anniversary reunion celebrations Warner Bros. is putting on, which is already hugley hyped. With much of the main cast appearing in Colbert's bit, it seems the closest to a reunion fans will get for the time being.
In the meantime, fans can look forward to Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV adaptation, the highly-anticipated prequel of sorts, which is gearing up for release late next year.
Amazon's The Lord of the Rings is currently set to premiere its 1st season on September 2, 2022, with episodes releasing weekly.
