A few weeks ago, it was revealed that actor Andy Serkis was in the running to direct Venom 2. Now, THR is reporting that Sony has officially locked up Serkis for the sequel.

Andy Serkis has directed films in the past such as Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and Breathe. He has also done some live-action work, most notably playing Ulysses Klaue in Marvel’s Black Panther. However, Serkis is best known for his stellar motion-capture performances in franchises such as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and the recent Planet of the Apes films.

So, with all that being considered, having Serkis direct Venom 2 sounds like a fantastic idea. The film’s script was written by Kelly Marcel (Venom, Saving Mr. Banks) and will see Tom Hardy return as Eddie Brock. Our favorite symbiote anti-hero will be facing off with Cletus Kasady/Carnage, who was revealed to be played by Woody Harrelson in the first film’s post-credits scene. Shortly after news broke of this announcement, Serkis posted this to Instagram, stating that he couldn’t wait to get started on the project:

Venom 2 is currently set to release in early October 2020. The first movie grossed nearly $1 billion during its run at the box office in late 2018. Surely, Sony wants to get the ball rolling on this upcoming sequel as quickly as possible. Andy Serkis sounds like an excellent choice for the director’s chair but let’s just hope there aren’t any references to turds in the wind this time around.

A post shared by Andrew Serkis (@andyserkis)