Stephen Colbert unwillingly turned a figurative martyr for late-night TV when The Late Present was canceled in July 2025. As fellow comedians and colleagues gave him a correct sendoff, many criticized CBS for gutting the legacy present. So, what’s Stephen doing now that the late-night present has ended?
Beneath, discover out what job Stephen has lined up subsequent after The Late Present.
Why Was The Late Present With Stephen Colbert Canceled?
CBS — which is owned by Paramount Skydance — insisted that the rationale for The Late Present‘s cancelation was “purely a monetary choice towards a difficult backdrop in late evening” and “not associated in any strategy to the present’s efficiency, content material or different issues occurring at Paramount.”
However trade colleagues and audiences beg to vary.
Simply weeks earlier than The Late Present‘s cancelation, CBS had simply settled a lawsuit with Donald Trump for $16 million after the Republican president sued the community, accusing it of modifying Kamala Harris‘ 60 Minutes interview.
Though Stephen has maintained his graciousness towards CBS executives, he advised The Hollywood Reporter what he believed occurred between CBS and the president.
“There are a lot of individuals who imagine there was another excuse [for my cancelation]. And, as I stated in essentially the most measured tones I might muster, there’s a motive why individuals imagine that — the community had clearly already achieved it as soon as by reducing that $16 million verify [to the Trump administration],” Stephen defined. “Me being canceled bolstered a story that CBS already had a nimbus of knee-bending that they’d created round themselves, as a result of even their legal professionals stated there was no motive to chop the verify, after which they did and gave no rationale for why they modified their minds, after which abruptly they acquired their broadcast license.”
What Is Stephen Colbert Doing Subsequent?
Stephen already had a job lined up earlier than his present was canceled. He agreed to co-write the script for The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Previous a few yr earlier than CBS gutted his late-night present. The comic, who’s an outspoken LOTR fan, will co-write the screenplay alongside his son Peter McGee and sequence screenwriter Philippa Boyens.
Producer Peter Jackson revealed Stephen’s involvement within the movie in a social media video posted weeks earlier than The Late Present‘s ultimate episode.
“It took me a number of years to scrape my braveness right into a pile to present you a name, however about two years in the past I did,” Stephen stated. “You favored it sufficient to speak to me about it, and ever since then, the 2 of us have been working with the sensible Philippa Boyens on tips on how to develop this story.”
Shadow of the Previous will probably be launched after the following installment, The Hunt of Gollum, which will probably be in theaters subsequent yr.
Shortly after The Late Present ended, Stephen returned to late-night TV by making an look on a neighborhood Michigan station.
Was Stephen Colbert Changed?
No. CBS canceled The Late Present altogether, with out changing Stephen as its host. Nevertheless, the community did provide one other individual Stephen’s late-night time slot.
Comic and businessman Byron Allen‘s Comics Unleashed will substitute The Late Present in its timeslot.
