After nearly two decades, Peter Jackson is set to create his long-awaited sequel to The Lord of the Rings.

Peter Jackson, the creative force behind the iconic Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, as well as films like King Kong and the acclaimed documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, has been absent from directing narrative features for over a decade. While he has taken on producing roles for various projects, including Mortal Engines and Andy Serkis’ upcoming LOTR midquel, fans of his unique blend of intimate storytelling and epic scale have been eagerly awaiting his return to the director’s chair.

At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Jackson shared exciting news: he has completed the script for a new animated Tintin movie and is preparing to direct again. This announcement has sparked excitement among fans who are eager to see what Jackson can bring to Hergé’s beloved adventure series, a project he has been passionate about for nearly 20 years.

The journey to adapt Tintin began in the 1980s when Spielberg acquired the rights, envisioning it as a family-friendly series. Although plans for a live-action film stalled, the idea resurfaced in the 2000s after Spielberg witnessed Jackson’s groundbreaking work with Weta Workshop on the Lord of the Rings films. This collaboration led to the 2010 announcement that Spielberg would direct The Adventures of Tintin, with Jackson set to helm the sequel.

The Adventures of Tintin featured Jamie Bell as Tintin, Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, and Daniel Craig as the villain, drawing from three classic Tintin stories: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn, and Red Rackham’s Treasure. Despite its global success, grossing $373 million worldwide, the film underperformed in the U.S., earning only $77.5 million, which stalled momentum for a sequel.

After the film’s release, Jackson shifted his focus to other projects, including stepping in to direct the Hobbit trilogy when Guillermo del Toro departed due to development challenges. At Cannes, he revealed that the passing of his longtime director of photography, Andrew Lesnie, in 2015 had a significant impact on his motivation to direct traditional features, leading him to explore documentary filmmaking instead.

Now, Jackson is back in the game. He announced that he and his collaborator Fran Walsh have wrapped up the script for the untitled Tintin movie and are currently working on edits. However, he has not disclosed which Tintin story he plans to adapt next.

In 2011, there were rumors that the sequel would be based on Prisoners of the Sun, where Tintin searches for Professor Calculus and encounters an ancient Inca civilization. Over the years, Jackson has been tight-lipped about the film’s progress, with rare updates surfacing occasionally.

“I’ve had certain times where I thought it was going to be this, it’s going to be that… for a while, we were going to do Prisoners of the Sun,” Jackson mentioned in a 2018 interview. “But I’m not necessarily thinking that that would be where we’d go next time. There are so many good stories, and I just want to see what I feel like making.”

Jackson clearly sees a wealth of potential in Tintin’s adventures. Back in 2009, he even hinted at a third movie based on Destination Moon. He envisions Tintin as the animated equivalent of James Bond, had he and Spielberg followed through on their original plans. Alongside his Tintin update, Jackson expressed interest in directing a war film centered on the 1943 Dambusters Raid, a project he has been passionate about since the LOTR era.

So, there’s a Tintin script in the works and a glimmer of hope for the future of the franchise. For now, fans are just excited to see more of Jackson’s creative vision, whether it involves Tintin or not, and whether or not that adorable little dog Snowy makes an appearance.