Its taken a while to secure the right deal, but finally Ryan Coogler has been confirmed to return to the helm on Black Panther 2.

Coogler will also pen the script for the sequel to 2018’s hugely successful comic book adaptation. He is set to go to work on that script in 2019 with an expected shoot start towards the end of 2019.

Black Panther has grossed $681.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $643.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.325 billion. The $370.5 million earned worldwide in its opening weekend was the 15th-largest of all time.

Also in the news – Matthew McConaughey joins Guy Ritchie’s Toff Guys

Its taken at least 6 months of talks for Coogler to come to a deal with Disney/Marvel to return. Back in April, during an interview with Collider, Marvel’s president, Kevin Feige, confirmed that Coogler was thrashing out a deal.  By the sounds of things, he was also calling the shots timewise.

“We definitely want Ryan to come back and that’s actively being worked out right now. When will it be? A lot of it will be when Ryan wants to and not rushing anything, but I think we have an idea of when it will be. But, again, [we’re] not going to announce any post-Avengers 4 movies until hopefully after Avengers 4, which is another reason we’re not going to Comic-Con.”

Coogler is currently working on the independent drama, Wrong Answer, in which he teams up yet again with Michael B. Jordon, marking their fourth project together. Coogler is also spending time producing Creed 2 and the Space Jam sequel.