Stephen King has countless beloved classics in his cache of novels, but perhaps among his top five (along with the likes of The Stand, Carrie, and Misery) is none other than It, a story that follows a series of horrific murders over the course of several decades. However, the killer is no human. He is a shapeshifter that is primarily recognized as Pennywise the Clown.

Given that this story is a 1,000-page tome, this is one of those films that ranks up there with some of the most difficult to adapt. Taking into account the non-linear structure — alternating between a group of kids in the ‘50s and them as adults in the ’80s — it seems like quite the difficult task.

Some time ago, it was revealed that the upcoming adaptation of It would feature two films — the first following the kids in the ‘50s, and the second following them as adults in the ‘80s. It seemed like the perfect solution to a big problem. Of course, that came with its own set of problems. With two movies, you run the risk of banking on a sequel that will ultimately fail. Plus, when the adaptation went through a revolving door of directors, it wasn’t really clarified if the studio was still on board to continue on with the two-film approach. It was only last month that producer Chris Lee stated that, yes, they would indeed — in an ideal situation — move forward with that second film.

It turns out they may be starting much sooner than anticipated. In fact, they may be starting out as soon as this month. According to a listing on My Entertainment World (via Bloody Disgusting), the film will be set to shoot on March 17, 2017. The folks over at Bloody Disgusting initially thought this may just be indicative of the first film’s reshoots, but the plot synopsis on the site doesn’t leave much room for such speculation.

“A promise made twenty-eight years ago calls seven adults to reunite in Derry, Maine, where as teenagers they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Unsure that their Losers Club had vanquished the creature all those years ago, the seven had vowed to return to Derry if IT should ever reappear.”

If this is to be believed, then perhaps this is a sign that the studio has a lot of confidence in how the first movie turned out, which should get fans of the big pretty excited. We may be in for a real treat here. So what does this mean for the release of the second film? Well, the first movie began production in June 2016, and with that in mind, could we expect a summer 2018 release for the second film? 

We’ll have to wait and see.

The first part of It hits theaters on September 8, 2017.

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SOURCE: My Entertainment World (via Bloody Disgusting)