While just about every Marvel character will be suiting up for Captain America: Civil War, it’s a near-certainty that Thor won’t be joining the party. That means we may not seem him again until his next solo film, Thor: Ragnarok, which opens on November 3, 2017. While that’s still five films away, Marvel is getting the wheels moving faster than you might think.

Steve recently spoke to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige at the press day for Ant-Man, and they touched on Thor 3.

Feige says, “probably towards the end of the summer we would announce a filmmaker and a writer. May be the same person, I don’t know, may be two different people.”

Having it be one and the same person, would be a change of pace for Marvel. Now that Joss Whedon has left, James Gunn is the only writer-director left working for the studio. Civil War, Doctor Strange, and the Spider-Man reboot all have a separate writer and director, and I think that may be a strategic move to prevent another Edgar Wright situation or avoid the friction that wore Whedon down into a fine, exhausted powder on Avengers: Age of Ultron. That’s not to say that the hire won’t have a distinct personality or something to bring to the material, but I wouldn’t be surprised the director and writer are separate. Also, based on recent hires, I predict that the director will come from television or indie film; they won’t be a major cinema presence.

As to the recent rumor that they would bring back Kenneth “Unnecessary Canted Angles” Branagh for another Thor film, Feige responded, “Not true. I don’t know where that came from.”

We can wait patiently for the announcement the Thor: Ragnarok announcement. Based on Feige’s recent comments concerning Black Panther and Captain Marvel, Marvel might be making a big announcement at the end of the summer (D23, perhaps?) for directors on multiple Phase Three movies, not just Thor: Ragnarok.