Critically acclaimed director Peter Jackson has no intention of retiring, and his upcoming projects could finally bring a 16-year streak to an end. During a recent interview with ScreenRant, Jackson revealed that he has teamed up with Colossal Biosciences to bring back an extinct, flightless, New Zealand native bird in a groundbreaking, Māori-led de-extinction effort.

This is a far cry from Hollywood and feels more like something straight out of Jurᴀssic Park, but Jackson understandably claimed that resurrecting the giant moa would be just as, if not more exciting, than any movie he could come to direct. That doesn’t mean he’s entirely done with the filmmaking business, however.

When asked about his future as a director, Jackson revealed that he was working on “three different screenplays” while highlighting his work as a producer and writer on The Hunt for Gollum, the upcoming Lord of the Rings spinoff directed by and starring Andy Serkis.

What those three scripts are is unclear, though surely, some fans will be hoping it’s the Adventures of Tintin sequel, which has languished in development limbo for years despite Jackson’s involvement. Whatever the case may be, any of those three scripts could see Jackson finally break an unfortunate 16-year streak, forcing the director’s attention to a world other than J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Peter Jackson’s Upcoming Movie Projects Will Finally Take Him Away From Lord Of The Rings

It’s Exciting To See What Jackson Can Do Outside Middle-Earth

The last time Peter Jackson directed a feature film not focused on Middle-earth was the 2009 supernatural drama The Lovely Bones, based on Alice Sebold’s novel of the same name. Just before and after The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released, Jackson also directed the 2005 remake of King Kong and several cult horror movies and drama films, including the Oscar-nominated Heavenly Bodies.

Since The Lovely Bones, though, Jackson has remained in Middle-earth with The Hobbit trilogy (2012-2014) and turned his attention to documentary filmmaking instead, including the BAFTA-nominated World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old (2018), and the five-time Emmy-winning docuseries The Beatles: Get Back (2021).

Any of the three scripts Jackson is working on could finally see the director return to the helm of a feature film that doesn’t involve Middle-earth. The Hobbit movies weren’t supposed to be directed by Jackson; horror and fantasy director Guillermo del Toro was originally attached, but he left the project after two years of development following financial complications with the studio.

Jackson, who had worked closely with del Toro on the script and design, took over instead, and The Hobbit‘s story was stretched from del Toro’s imagined duology into a full-blown trilogy. Though The Hobbit movies were significantly less well-received than Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, they were mᴀssive financial successes nonetheless, with all three movies earning just under or over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

It’s a shame, though, that Jackson’s unexpected leadership on The Hobbit trilogy heralded a 16-year-long era in which the acclaimed director never lent his directorial talents to another fictional world. Middle-earth’s cinematic legacy will forever be attached to Jackson and his trusted team, but we know he can do so much more. The fact that Peter Jackson is currently working on three new projects is undeniably exciting.