Let's take a moment and give Andy Serkis his due for The Lord of the Rings, shall we? Though many of us had never even heard of the English actor prior to his performance as Gollum, his role was easily the most memorable from the series thanks to his incredible motion capture work and his voice (which we have all tried to imitate at one time or another). Thankfully Serkis is already set to reprise his role in The Hobbit, but apparently he'll also be taking on another position.

THR reports that Andy Serkis will serve as the Second Unit Director on the two Hobbit movies currently in production. According to the actor, director Peter Jackson wanted to surround himself with only those who truly understood the material and work ethic, and who better to hire than someone who not only worked on the first three films, but had an integral part? Speaking on hearing about the offer, Serkis said, "“When Peter asked me. There was this email out of the blue. It was a fantastic surprise." Not entirely new to the job, the actor previously worked as a performance capture director on the videogame Heavenly Sword.

Following The Hobbit, Serkis says that he wants to try his hand at directing a full feature film, and what better way to start than by working on what should be one of the most epic films in years? Pure baptism by fire.