Finally, there’s some legitimately good news about production on Rick and Morty Season 4. Animation has officially begun, though that also means the release date probably won’t arrive for half a year or more.

Rick and Morty’s animation supervisor Eric Bofa Nfon tweeted last Friday about a “Casual meeting,” saying in the tweet that it was his “First week back!” Nfon included the hashtag “#RaM4,” clearly referencing Rick and Morty Season 4. There’s also an Emmy award sitting on the table, no doubt because the show won an Emmy for Season 3’s “Pickle Rick” last year.

Eric Bofa Nfon works for Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, the animation studio responsible for animating the show. So the fact that they’re fast at work on the new season should be welcome news to fans.

But what exactly does this mean for the state of Rick and Morty Season 4 production and a potential release date? We need look no further than Season 3’s production schedule to get a better idea.

Rick and Morty writers Sarah Carbiener and Erica Rosbe appeared on the Chicks Who Script podcast in September 2016, on which Rosbe claimed writing had been completed in early September and that it was in the hands of Bardel Entertainment for animation already.

History tells us that the Season 3 premiere didn’t premiere until April 1, 2017, with the rest of the season commencing on July 30. That’s roughly seven months of time, or 10 if you count from the end of writing to Episode 2’s air date.

As tough as it might be to hear, this probably means the Season 4 premiere is still seven months away, placing it sometime around mid-August. That’s totally plausible when compared to last season, especially because the bulk of Season 3 ran during August and September of 2017.

This is all highly speculative, but it’s the closest thing we have to the truth.

Rick and Morty Season 4 has no confirmed release date, but it seems possible that it might premiere later this year.

While you wait for Rick and Morty Season 4, learn more about Dan Harmon’s Story Circle writing method.