Simon Kinberg has finished production on his directorial debut, with filming on X-Men: Dark Phoenix now wrapped. Fox’s X-Men universe is quickly moving forward, not only with their several spinoffs, but for the mainline films. Following X-Men: Apocalypse‘s lackluster reception last year, the studio didn’t slow down in getting the sequel off the ground. With longtime director Bryan Singer stepping away, the reins to the franchise and a retelling of the Dark Phoenix Saga went to Kinberg.

Kinberg has been involved with the X-Men franchise for years, serving as a writer on the main franchise starting with X-Men: The Last Stand and staying with it for X-Men: Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. After years of writing and producing these films, he finally got his shot at stepping behind the camera, and part of his job is already done.

Kinberg announced on Instagram today that filming on X-Men: Dark Phoenix is officially complete. The big sequel started filming in the middle of the summer, so Kinberg was clearly able to move through production at a steady pace and not prolong the production process, even as a first time director. But, now will begin the post-production phase and prepping the movie to be ready for a marketing push starting next year.

Seeing how efficiently Kinberg handled the production process, it should add another level of comfort with him being the choice. While the track record is not great with first time directors on big budget projects, Kinberg’s long-running career in Hollywood has hopefully (and apparently) prepared him for this next step. But, with him stepping behind the camera for the seventh main series X-Men movie, fans will be looking to see what new elements he is able to add to the franchise.

Not only is making a directorial debut on a blockbuster a tough task, but Kinberg has the added pressure of telling the Dark Phoenix Saga, and doing it right. X-Men: The Last Stand did not get that story right, so it is only fitting Kinberg is given another shot at telling this story as both the writer and director, and hopefully audiences get a better result. Early indications made it appear as though they were planning on embracing the cosmic nature of the story with Jessica Chastain playing the villainous Lilandra – the Empress of the Shi’ar – but that is apparently not her role after all.

Whoever Chastain is playing, she is joining a cast that audiences are already very familiar with. James McAvoy (Professor X), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Evan Peters (Quicksilver), Olivia Munn (Psylocke), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler), and Alexandra Shipp (Storm) are all returning for the followup to Apocalypse. Now that production is complete, it hopefully will not be too long before we start to get some looks at X-Men: Dark Phoenix.