Director Peter Jackson, along with his fellow co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, have responded to Warner Bros.' announcement they are forging ahead with new Lord of the Rings films. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav recently revealed that Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema had reached a deal with the current rights owners to develop more films set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s expansive fantasy world. This latest announcement also comes on the heels of New Line’s upcoming animated film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, currently due for release in 2024.

Now Jackson and his fellow Lord of the Rings co-writers have spoken with Deadline to offer their thoughts on the recent announcement. It seems this news is no surprise for the Oscar-winning trio. While they stopped short of revealing whether they will be directly involved in the new films, they sounded optimistic about the franchise's future. Check out their comments below:

Warner Brothers and Embracer have kept us in the loop every step of the way. We look forward to speaking with them further to hear their vision for the franchise moving forward.

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Why Peter Jackson Should Return For New Lord Of The Rings Films

Aragorn looks on in Lord of the Rings The Two Towers

With The Lord of the Rings once thought far too difficult to ever be given a suitable adaptation, Jackson, Walsh and Boyens proved doubters wrong when they released the Academy Award-winning Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. Shot back-to-back with Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Jackson’s expansive trilogy would go on to receive widespread acclaim and introduce a whole new audience to Tolkien's seminal fantasy works. Often featuring high up in “best of” lists, Jackson’s original trilogy remains the benchmark against which all other fantasy films are regularly compared.

With this kind of previous success in mind, there is no mystery as to why Warner Bros. has been keeping Jackson and his writing team apprised of their plans to return to Middle-earth. Though the trio’s comments do not necessarily mean they are directly involved in the new Lord of the Rings movies, it is encouraging to learn that the trio are being consulted. With their experience on both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, there are probably no filmmakers better suited to tackle these latest projects.

Moreover, by having Jackson return, Warner Bros. can also look to separate itself from Prime Video’s take on the property. While The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power channels much of the same look and feel that Jackson introduced into his Lord of the Rings trilogy, it has not been as universally well-received by viewers as the films which came before it. Yet if Jackson were to helm these latest Lord of the Rings movies, it could potentially woo back portions of the audience put off by Prime Video’s sometimes controversial take on the material.

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Source: Deadline