Warner Bros. officials are working on new movies in The Lord of the Rings franchise.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav revealed in an earnings call on Thursday that the studio will be making “multiple” films based on the books by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who run the studio’s film division, have brokered a deal with Embracer Group, which owns the rights for much of Tolkien’s world, for the projects to be developed by WB’s production studio New Line Cinema.

New Line produced Peter Jackson’s original trilogy, which compromised of 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring, 2002’s The Two Towers, and 2003’s The Return of the King, as well as his The Hobbit prequel trilogy, which ran from 2012 to 2014.

No director has been attached to the new films yet, however, Jackson and his collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens said in a statement that Warner Bros. 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,” they added, reports Variety.

Embracer obtained the rights to The Lord of the Rings films, games, merchandise, theme parks and live productions when it acquired Middle-earth Enterprises last year. The television rights are owned by Amazon.

“We understand how cherished these works are and working together with our partners at New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, we plan to honor the past, look to the future, and adhere to the strongest level of quality and production values,” said Lee Guinchard, CEO of Freemode, a division of Embracer.

Meanwhile, De Luca and Abdy added that Tolkien’s universe “remains largely unexplored” despite “the scope and detail lovingly packed into the two trilogies”.

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