Peter Jackson says The Hobbit will be a trilogy

Peter Jackson will turn “The Hobbit” into a trilogy.

The director of Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” originally planned to make a two-part series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures in Middle-earth, the Associated Press reported.

But two films were not enough to tell the full story.

“We recognized that the richness of the story of ‘The Hobbit,’ as well as some of the related material in the appendices of ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ gave rise to a simple question: do we tell more of the tale?” Jackson said in a statement on his Facebook page.

“And the answer from our perspective as filmmakers and fans was an unreserved ‘yes.’

“We know how much of the tale of Bilbo Baggins, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur would remain untold if we did not fully realize this complex and wonderful adventure.”

The Washington Post said the first Hobbit movie, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Adventure,” would screen in cinemas in December.

The final film is slated for the summer of 2014.

More from GlobalPost: Larry Wachowski, Matrix director, reveals sex change on 'Cloud Atlas' trailer

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.