David Cronenberg has never shied from making films that explored the darkest recesses of humanity, from the horrors that our bodies can inflict upon us to the moral dilemmas that slowly devour our souls. He has made many great movies and even a few masterpieces. For years Cronenberg had never considered making a sequel to one of his films, but three years ago he first discussed the possibility of a follow-up to his 2007 London-set Russian underworld crime drama Eastern Promises. Another year passed and the subject came up again, but the director had been too busy working on his films A Dangerous Method and Cosmopolis to give the sequel his full attention.

Now it looks like the Eastern Promises sequel is gearing up once more. Claude Brodesser-Akner at Vulture is reporting that Promises co-star Vincent Cassel is in negotiations to join the production, with Cronenberg back in the director’s chair working from a screenplay by Steven Knight – the writer of the original – and Viggo Mortensen starring. There’s still no word on whether or not Eastern Promises female lead Naomi Watts will be returning as well.

It was almost a year ago that we found out that David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen were hoping to make a sequel to Eastern Promises — their gritty Russian crime movie that was released in 2007.

As it turns out, this was not an early April Fools joke and some more good news is here. Deadline Hollywood is reporting that producer Paul Webster is helping to bring the Focus Features sequel along, and that all parties hope to begin filming next winter based on the script from Steven Knight.

Columbia Pictures is ready to roll the dice on The Da Vinci Code franchise one more time, announcing that it is officially moving forward with The Lost Symbol, which is based on author Dan Brown‘s book of the same name.

When The Da Vinci Code first came out, it was a mass hit and was everywhere you looked and listened. This popularity obviously carried over when director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks teamed up for the movie adaptation, and though it wasn’t as well-received, the movie still made $758 million in its box office run. A sequel was always expected considering there were more books in the series, but for some reason it never felt quite right. Angels & Demons was even less-liked than the original, and it went on to make $486 million — not a bad take, but surely not up to the hopes of the studio.

Despite the lackluster performance of Angels & Demons, this news comes as no real shock. Yes the original made a lot more money, but it also made a profit of of over $300 million. You don’t need to have the best business sense in the world to think that another film could deliver similar numbers, even if it ultimately doesn’t fare well.

In one of the more unexpected movie sequel announcements, it looks like director David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen will be making a follow-up to 2007’s Eastern Promises.

The thinking here is that the ending of Eastern Promises left a whole lot more story to be told. Even though Cronenberg isn’t one to do sequels, another reason he wants to do this is because he very much enjoys working with Mortensen, saying that he “…consider him personal friend,” and that he is a “…very special guy.” This would mark the third project for the pair, which started with A History of Violence.

Here is what Cronenberg thinks of sequels in general, as well as why this one could work: