Back in December, CBS All Access gave a series order to a Jordan Peele-produced reboot of “The Twilight Zone,” one on the greatest television shows of all time. Last we heard, production is set to begin later this year with Greg Yaitanes overseeing the small screen reboot, and Peele talks about the exciting (and timely) project in a new chat with Variety this week.

“I was terrified,” Peele told the site, referring to his trepidation about coming aboard the series. “Why would I ever jump into the most established, pristine shoes in all of the genre? I could rip ‘Twilight Zone’ off and call it something different and not be compared to Rod Serling. So I stepped away from it. And then several months later I got another call.”

He continued, “The realization, for me, was that it was an opportunity to attempt to continue with Serling’s mission. If we approach it without ego and sort of bow to Serling, that will hopefully suffice for our fellow ‘Twilight Zone’ fans but also bring back a show that I think is needed right now. Because it’s a show that has always helped us look at ourselves, hold a mirror up to society.”

The site notes that the new “Twilight Zone” will have a host who introduces the stories, like Serling did for the original series, but that it’s unlikely Peele himself will play that role.

The new series will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films. Peele, Kinberg and Ramirez will exec produce for the series and collaborate on the premiere episode. Win Rosenfeld and Audrey Chon will also serve as executive producers.