Earlier this year, audiences had a chance to feast their eyes on the latest M. Night Shyamalan film Split. Despite a questionable past decade of filmmaking from the Sixth Sense director, the movie managed to be a confirmation of his return to form. The movie came following a trend of solid horror/thrillers in the past year, and is evidence that cool, fun, creative original ideas can still thrive in a world full of big budget franchises.

Of course, the ultimate dose of irony here is that with the success of original ideas comes the inevitability of sequelization. However, for those who are fans of M. Night Shyamalan, and who had a chance to see the film in theaters, we know this isn’t necessarily a bad thing in this case. Now, enthusiasm for Shyamalan’s work is at an all-time high, and audiences are thrilled to see a continuation of this mythology.

Luckily for us, Shayamalan is more than willing to share his exploits on Twitter, and thanks to some updates from the filmmaker over the past few days, we now know how swiftly things are coming along for Split 2. Last week, he tweeted the following:

“11 pages into the 1st draft of the new script. Writing lines or idea down on scraps of paper & napkins. It begins.”

It’s some great insight, and makes this writer wonder why he can’t write at his computer or in a notebook like a normal human being. All jokes aside, it’s clear that he’s excited for this new script, and given his recent resurgence, it seems like the first time in a while that he’s been able to share updates like this without facing criticism from film fans.

That wasn’t the only update we got from Shyamalan. Sunday evening, he tweeted out:

“First week of writing the first draft of the new screenplay. 20pages. As per my ritual, I’m reading an Elmore Leonard novel to be inspired.”

Twenty pages in the first week ain’t bad. Previously he had shared the progress of his in-depth 16-outline, so all things considered, we wouldn’t be surprised if he had a solid first draft within a month or two. Generally speaking, screenplays can range from 90-140 pages long, so he’s already a sizable chunk through. 

For those unfamiliar with Elmore Leonard, he was a legendary American novelist known for such books as Get Shorty, Rum Punch, and Three-Ten to Yuma. He’s well known to be known for his simple language and amazing dialogue. Never a fan of narrative flourishes, Leonard has always been a proponent of a strong character voice, and as such, he’s been a huge influence on dialogue-driven filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino (who adapted Rum Punch into Jackie Brown).

While all of this is exciting, the ultimate question here is if this sequel can live up to its predecessor. With all eyes focused on him, will Shyamalan’s next film actually live up to expectations, now that they’ve been re-set? Let us know your thoughts down below!

Split is in theaters now!

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SOURCE: M. Night Shyamalan (via Twitter [1], [2])