Stephen Colbert will appear in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy, a "knowledgeable source" has confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter.

It's no secret the TV host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" has an appreciation  for J.R.R. Tolkien and "The Lord of the Rings" series of novels as big as Mount Doom. Colbert teased his upcoming role in one of the films in the November issue of Playboy, acknowledging his visit to the New Zealand shoot for the film.

"Peter Jackson invited me to the set last year," Colbert said. "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."

When asked if he was hired as an extra, Colbert smiled. In response to the question, "Are you telling us you're in the Hobbit movie?" he responded, with another smile, and said, "Could be."

PLAYBOY: Can you elaborate?

COLBERT: [Fumbles with paper on his desk] So, uh, I was just writing Mr. Jackson a note to congratulate him on making "The Hobbit" into three movies. Because I think that's just fantastic.

P: You're not going to tell us anything, are you?

COLBERT: [Smiles, says nothing]

Colbert's cameo will not come in upcoming "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," according to the Hollywood Reporter's source.

The TV show host will either appear in the second film "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug," which arrives Dec. 13, 2013, or the third, "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," to be released July 18, 2014.

The first of three Peter Jackson movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," is in theaters Dec. 14. The movie stars Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins), Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield), and Benedict Cumberbatch (Smaug), as well as several actors who will reprise their roles from "The Lord of the Rings," including Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Ian Holm, Elijah Wood, and Orlando Bloom.

Also returning for the production is a significant part of the production crew. Among others, co-writers Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, illustrators John Howe and Alan Lee, art director Dan Hennah, and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie will return. As with the original trilogy, props will generally be crafted by Weta Workshop and visual effects managed by Weta Digital. Additionally, composer Howard Shore, who wrote the score for "The Lord of the Rings," has confirmed his involvement in the first two parts of the film project.

On first publication in October 1937, "The Hobbit" was met with almost unanimously favorable reviews from publications both in the U.K. and the U.S., including The Times, The New York Post. C. S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien, writing in The Times said,

"The truth is that in this book a number of good things, never before united, have come together: a fund of humour, an understanding of children, and a happy fusion of the scholar's with the poet's grasp of mythology... The professor has the air of inventing nothing. He has studied trolls and dragons at first hand and describes them with that fidelity that is worth oceans of glib 'originality.'"

"The Hobbit" arrives in theaters Dec. 14.