Earlier this year, following a social media tease by Idris Elba, Luther creator and writer Neil Cross confirmed season 5 was in the works, and now he says the series is set to begin filming in early 2018. The news is especially welcome for fans of the moody detective, as 2015’s season 4 was believed to have been the end for Elba’s turn as DCI John Luther, particularly due to the demands of the actor’s increasingly hectic schedule. So, needless to say, it’s best to never say never when it comes to the future of a series like Luther, which according to Cross, may also apply to a rumored Luther feature film.

Cross has been having a busy time as of late, as he’s not only working on Luther season 5, he’s also handling scripting duties on the upcoming Escape From New York remake that’s set to be directed by Robert Rodriguez. On top of that, he’s working on the Hulu original series Hard Sun, about a pair of detectives who discover the world is about to end. With that much on his plate, it is no wonder Cross had a lot to discuss during a recent interview.

Speaking with Deadline, Cross opened up about all of his projects, but the announcement regarding the start of production on Luther season 5 may have been the biggest surprise, which is perhaps due to Cross having recently turned in the script for the final episode of the new season.

“I delivered the final episode of Luther series five about an hour before leaving for the airport [to head to London for the Hard Sun premiere]. We’re in prep right now and we’re doing a bit of casting and we start shooting in January. For some reason, I always seem to shoot in the depths of winter.”

As is often the case when Luther comes up, the discussion turned to the question of officially ending the series with a feature film, something Cross has mentioned the possibility of before. Though he wasn’t able to give any confirmation on a film actually happening, Cross did say it’s “absolutely” something he’d like to do, and he discussed whether or not a Luther film would be fundamentally all that different from the show. According to the series’ creator, it’s really just a difference in runtime.

“It’s always going to be slightly different because of how long you have to tell a story. Ultimately, whatever Luther story you tell, in whatever medium, has to focus on that character so in some ways it will be exactly the same because it will be about him.”

So, while a question mark still hangs over a potential Luther feature film, fans can at least rest assured that a fifth go-round with DCI John Luther will be happening sooner rather than later