Hold on to your hats kids, it looks like Guillermo del Toro is directing The Hobbit. Not just one, but BOTH of the upcoming Lord of the Rings prequels!

We’ve known for some time that it was either going to come down to Guillermo del Toro or Sam Raimi, and it looks like for one reason or another, Guillermo del Toro is going to be the one heading back to the Shire! The folks at Yahoo News give us this:

Guillermo del Toro is in talks to direct back-to-back installments of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” which is being co-financed by New Line and MGM. Few filmmakers have the cachet that del Toro has, as well as a deep love for the source material, an assured grasp of fantasy filmmaking and an understanding and command of geek culture as well as its respect. Del Toro has built that goodwill through such films as the Oscar-nominated “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy,” “Blade 2” (which was made by New Line) and “The Devil’s Backbone.”

All I can say is.. WOW! This is probably the ideal situation. I’ve personally been very big on the idea of either a Raimi or perhaps a Frank Darabont vision of middle earth, but in reality there probably isn’t anyone better for this particular job on the face of the earth than Guillermo del Toro (with the understanding that Jackson wasn’t going to do it himself). del Toro has a visionscape for an imagination and knows how to completely NAIL the idea of darker fantasy without it seeming childish at the same time (Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the best fantasy/fairy tale movies I’ve ever seen).

This is terrific news! So what do you think? Excited to see del Toro take the reigns, or was there another director you were really hoping for?