For those excited, seething, anxious or any mixture in between at the prospect of the forthcoming sequel to Ridley Scott‘s groundbreaking 1982 science fiction masterpiece Blade Runner, well, it’s definitely on the way and pretty soon. In fact, the next chapter is reportedly slated to begin filming this July with director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario) to take the helm with Ryan Gosling (The Big Short) and Harrison Ford (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) confirmed to appear.

While the plot is stay close to the vest other than it will be set several decades after the first film and Ford will reappear in his iconic role of Rick Deckard. The Blade Runner sequel comes packaged with a screenplay in toe by Hampton Fancher (who co-wrote the original) and Michael Green (a TV vet of Smallville, Heroes and Everwood) from a story by Fancher and original director Scott (The Martian); the original film was based on Philip K. Dick’s novel. Warner Bros. is set to distribute the film domestically while Sony will handle international; the film is being produced by Alcon Entertainment.

While rebooting a classic property is always a scary proposition– though it has worked out quite nicely recently with the critical and commercial success stories of Mad Max: Fury Road, Creed and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (all of which earned at least one Oscar nomination)- the Blade Runner sequel at the very least has assembled a nice pedigree. Villeneuve has been a roll lately following the Oscar nominated success of his 2010 Canadian film Incendies. He has since directed the Jake Gyllenhaal curiosity Enemy, the praised thriller Prisoners and most recently, the surprise hit Sicario.

Villeneuve will test his sci-fi muscles first with the Amy Adams alien drama Story of My Life, due later this year before venturing into the world of Replicants. The filmmaker is also bringing aboard Prisoners and Sicario director of photography Roger Deakins to the project as well- so at least it will look pretty. The movie is expected to hit theaters some time in 2017.

We will stay tuned to future developments regarding Blade Runner 2.