Isn't he a bit tall for a Hobbit? Stephen Colbert set to make surprise cameo in new Peter Jackson trilogy

By Nina Golgowski

PUBLISHED: 00:01 EST, 21 October 2012 | UPDATED: 00:16 EST, 21 October 2012

Colbert Nation and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth may have shifted monumentally closer.

Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert will make a cameo in one of the upcoming three Hobbit films, a source has confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter, though his exact role is yet to be revealed.

Colbert, an outspoken and in some cases challenging Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fan, had visited Peter Jackson’s New Zealand movie shoot recently before claiming in an interview to have been just a mere guest on set.

Hobbit feet: Stephen Colbert, an admitted huge fan of J.R.R. Tolken and Lord of the Rings, will make a cameo appearance in one of the three upcoming Hobbit films

'Peter Jackson invited me to the set last year,' he told Playboy Magazine for their upcoming November issue.

'I flew out and watched them shoot some scenes and went to some locations. I saw a 25-minute cut, and it was amazing. Jackson knows I'm a big fan of the films,' he said.

But when his travel and visit was questioned of not appearing at least as an extra in one of the films, Colbert playfully stiffened up in his office that houses a Lord of the Rings pinball machine, before flashing a smile that hinted possibly something more.

'Are you telling us you're in the Hobbit movie?' the reported asked.

Recent visit: Colbert recently visited the trilogy's movie set in New Zealand at the invite of producer Peter Jackson, seen left on set

Presence: What's not yet known is how large of a role he'll play in the film among characters like traveling hobbit Bilbo Baggins, pictured centre

'Could be,' Colbert smiled back.

While the extent of his role is not yet said - as a key character or an extra - it’s been said it will not be in the first of the three films that is set for release on December 14, The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey.

That leaves his cameo up to either the second film, Desolation of Smaug, scheduled to hit theatres on December 13 of 2013 or in the third film, There and Back Again, scheduled for July 18 of 2014.