Peter Jackson in talks to direct The Hobbit films himself

Peter Jackson is now in negotiations to direct The Hobbit film adaptations, which were left without a helmer after Guillermo del Toro left left the project because of delays, according to HeatVisionBlog.

Before his sudden departure, Del Toro devoted a great deal of time and energy working with Jackson on pre-production for the movies, even moving his family to New Zealand. Casting was even in the early stages, according to the report.

But since Del Toro’s departure, Warner Bros. never did a dedicated search for a new director, instead focusing squarely on bringing Jackson onboard as the director.

Jackson has been working on secret projects and wasn’t sure he wanted to devote more years of his life to the tales of J.R.R. Tolkien. But because of its complicated nature and advanced stage of the project, finding a new director wasn’t going to be an easy task.

We should know for certain in the next few days whether Peter Jackson will indeed be headed back to Middle Earth.