Roughly ten days ago at San Diego Comic-Con, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey director Peter Jackson teased fans with word that he’d like to shoot more footage for the franchise.

Now sources say that the additional footage would turn into a third film, thereby creating a Hobbit trilogy.

For over a year Jackson and co. had been shooting Part 1, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Part 2, There and Back Again. He indicated at Comic-Con that he’d use additional material from Tolkien to create the third movie.

Heat Vision says today that there are “deep talks” for a third film and things are moving fast:

Sources say that studio Warner Bros., Jackson, producer Fran Walsh and writer-producer Philippa Boyens began exploring the logistics of what it would take to make another movie. Those talks are said to have accelerated in recent days, with the studio on board if the right financial arrangements can be achieved. That includes securing new actor deals for the expansive cast as well as shoring up certain rights associated with the property (The Hobbit has a long and tortured rights history.)

“If we’re going to do it, we have to make a decision soon,” says a source close to the production. “It’s strongly driven by the filmmakers’ desire to tell more of the story.”

The news will come as a pleasant surprise to fans, who surely are happy to hear that Jackson has a lot of confidence in his Hobbit story.

An Unexpected Journey will be released December 14, 2012. There and Back Again will be released one year later on December 13, 2013.