One of the longest running space adventures is finally getting a modern day update. Fox has had a Flash Gordon movie in the works for years now, with X-Men: First Class and Kingsman: The Secret Service Matthew Vaughn in-line to write and direct it for quite some time. Now things has moved in a different direction, and although Vaughn won’t direct, he will stay on as producer for newly hired Julius Avery, who will now write and direct the project.

Deadline broken the news, where they revealed that Avery has been a life-long fan of the property, dating all the way back to reading its comic strip. He pitched his take on the story directly to the studio and won the gig not just from them, but from Vaughn as well, who is known as one of the most creatively talented filmmakers in the business today. Avery is about to release Overlord, the World War II Nazi zombie movie from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions. Early word of mouth on that movie is through the roof, and while a zombie-fied war movie is as far away from Flash Gordon as you can get, Avery’s creativity seems to be enough to have incredibly confidence from the studio and Vaughn.

While we haven’t seen anything Flash Gordon is quite some time, its influence on other projects has been massive to their success. For starts, this is what inspired George Lucas to create Star Wars. Think about that. Not only did many space adventure movies follow its blueprint, but we see it in many pop culture properties of today, including Sam Jones’ appearance in the Ted movies and film-wide nods that are flooded all over Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok. With so many references since its last major appearance on screen, it’s somewhat shocking that the studio hasn’t taken a crack at it yet.

“For me, the only problem with Flash Gordon is Guardians [of the Galaxy] kind of stole what I would have liked to have done with it,” Vaughn said last year. “You’ve got Star Wars, you’ve got Guardians, so you’ve got to have your own space opera, but you have to find something that can survive among these two very, very great franchises.”

I could not agree with him more. You can’t make it the same or audiences will just be upset with a rehash of a previous movie, especially since it’s suppose to be a Flash Gordon movie. I will also applaud Vaughn at the same time. If his take on it was too similar to something else, while it tustve been hard to step away, it was undoubtedly the smart move to make. Now it leaves me extremely interested to see what Avery’s take on the project is. How different is it to past incarnations of the story? With so many franchises taken its blueprint and running with it, what did he do to make it so different? While I don’t think his chaotic sci-fi horror thriller will give any indication, hopefully he’s bringing the same creativity that has made Overlord such a hit thus far.

What do you think of this news? For you Flash Gordon fans out there, how excited are you to be seeing another movie soon? Do you like the director’s choice? Would you like to see something familiar or completely different? Make sure to leave all your thoughts in the comments below!