I read about that a while ago, and the story as I remember it was that they wanted to tie The Hobbit into LOTR more by expanding all the links that are kept offpage. Like we might see Gandalf and Saruman (and Radagast!) team up to take down the Necromancer, or more of Elrond (because the Rivendell of the book would have to be quite different to fit with the trilogy, no?) or even, and I'm less keen on this idea, Aragorn: The Wilderness Years.

Hi, by the way. Just passing through. :D