You asked for it, you prayed at night, you got the studios to listen to you, and now your nerdy dreams have come true: Peter Jackson is in negotiation to direct both parts of The Hobbit.

The news comes from Deadline Hollywood, where they say bringing Jackson on as a director was the only way the two movies would be ready to start shooting by the end of the year. Presumably this will swiftly bring the film the greenlight that Jackson has repeatedly said it's missing, and the returning cast and new actors will fall in line as well.

Given that last we heard Brett Ratner was close to getting the job, this is fantastic news, the nerd equivalent of God himself coming to Earth and sorting out the mess we've made of things here. Jackson may have been anxious to move on to other projects or even give another director he respected the chance to play around in the world he built, but when Guillermo del Toro walked away at the end of last month, it was clear Jackson's return was the only way the two Hobbit films could avoid disaster. All the co-producing studios are anxious to start production and finally start making money on the property (particularly poor bankrupt MGM), and introducing a new director to start filming so soon might not have sunk the film, but it certainly wouldn't have helped.

Everyone take a moment and thank Peter Jackson for allowing you to go into your weekend in peace. If he manages to make these two movies any good, we'll forgive him The Lovely Bones as a bonus.