Stephen Colbert Transformed by Photo Shoot Into Characters from ‘The Hobbit’

The Colbert Report is coming to an end on TV, and The Hobbit trilogy will soon come to an end in theaters. Knowing that Stephen Colbert is a huge fan of JRR Tolkien (author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings), Entertainment Weekly invited Colbert to write a cover story about the movies and pose for a series of portraits as characters from the trilogy. He agreed.

With the help of NYC-based fashion photographer Ruven Afanador, what resulted was a wonderfully lighthearted photo series in which Colbert blends seamlessly into the look of each well-known fantasy character.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video showing various moments of the shoot:

Here are two other versions of the magazine cover showing Colbert as Bilbo and Legolas:

In addition to cover photos, Colbert also posed for a bunch of other silly portraits as well — some of them on city streets. Here’s a slideshow:

You can find Colbert’s full cover story over on the Entertainment Weekly website.