It was decided in 2010 that del Toro would not be directing either of the two films of The Hobbit. The main reason for this seemed to be that the film had already taken a long time to get started - it was quite a long standing project, but there were legal and other issues to be resolved first. So by the time they were ready to start, del Toro was no longer able to spend that much time living and working in New Zealand.

He did continue to work on the screenplay, though, and his name is listed on the credits of the new film along with three other writers. In the end the film was directed by Peter Jackson, who of course had already directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Del Toro's most recent film was a horror movie entitled Don't be Afraid of the Dark, which he produced.