Peter Jackson Finally Reveals What His Next Directing Project Will Actually Be

Fans of sprawling adventure epics have spent over a decade wondering when Peter Jackson would step behind the camera again. Since wrapping ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy, the filmmaker has kept busy with documentaries and producing credits, but a return to narrative feature directing has felt like a distant promise rather than a real plan. That waiting game appears to be nearing its end.

Jackson has now confirmed the project that will mark his comeback, and it traces back to a pact he made nearly fifteen years ago. He and longtime collaborator Fran Walsh have been writing a script for a follow up to Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film ‘The Adventures of Tintin,’ the movie Jackson produced while Spielberg directed. The arrangement was always meant to flip on the sequel, with Jackson taking the director’s chair this time.

According to a report from The Hollywood Handle, citing Gold Derby, Jackson says the ‘Tintin’ sequel is officially the “next film that I’d actually direct.” The comment lines up with what he told Gold Derby directly, explaining that the original plan called for him and Spielberg to swap roles so he would direct the second film while Spielberg produced it, and that it simply took fifteen years longer than expected to get there.

The update came during a conversation with Gold Derby marking the 30th anniversary of Jackson’s first Hollywood film, ‘The Frighteners.’ Neither Jackson nor his frequent collaborator Richard Taylor gave any indication of when the finished script might actually move into production.

This isn’t the first time Jackson has teased the project. Back in May, while accepting an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Jackson revealed he was actively writing the script from his hotel room, calling it “an active real thing” that he was genuinely excited to be getting back into. He also hinted that the story would pick up right where Spielberg’s film left off, following ‘Red Rackham’s Treasure’ rather than jumping ahead in the timeline.

Jackson’s absence from the director’s chair has been notable given his stature in Hollywood. More than a decade has passed since he last directed a narrative feature, and his output since then has largely shifted toward producing and documentary work. He has previously said that losing longtime cinematographer Andrew Lesnie made him hesitant to build that kind of close creative partnership with someone new, which factored into his long break from dramatic filmmaking.

In the meantime, Jackson is easing back into blockbuster filmmaking as a producer. He is currently producing ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,’ directed by Andy Serkis, which began shooting on June 29 and is scheduled for release in December 2027. The original ‘Adventures of Tintin’ brought in $373.9 million worldwide against a $135 million budget, performing especially well overseas even though it never became a major box office story in North America.

There’s still no cast list, no release date, and no studio greenlight attached to the ‘Tintin’ sequel, but a completed script after fifteen years of false starts is real momentum. With Jackson’s name back in the directing conversation for the first time since ‘The Hobbit,’ how are you feeling about a return trip to Hergé’s world under his lens?