The star of Netflix’s The OA just revealed that the second season of the show is coming. Brit Marling, who also created and produces the show, took to Instagram to let fans know that the program’s second chapter is under production. She also explained why the show has taken such a long time to return to TV screens.

Marling posted a photo of herself holding a poster that says “where is part II of The OA?” with the caption, “short answer: @z_al and I just finished soundmixing chapter 2 so it is coming!”

She followed the photo with a “long AF answer” to let fans see into the behind-the-scenes process of bringing the show to life.

According to Marling’s post, because The OA doesn’t follow the typical pattern of TV shows, it takes longer to produce.

“[M]any TV shows are adapted from previously written material (novels, comics, foreign TV shows). This allows the writers to work quickly adapting the story for the screen rather than having to create characters and a world or plot from scratch,” she wrote.

The OA, on the other hand, is completely different. The show has no pattern and no previously written source material to refer to. That means that Marling and the rest of the show’s team have to “invent” every step of the way.

Even the show’s budget isn’t as easy to create as it would be on a typical show. Marling says that the producer on the second part of the series had to “throw out ‘pattern budgets’ the industry normally works with,” because there is no code that can be followed.

The fact that the show isn’t an adaptation also makes it more difficult to create.

“[W]e are drawing from just our imaginations every time we go to write a new part, and this takes time,” she elaborated.

Because Marling is also a writer on the show — in addition to serving as the lead actor — the production team can’t “leapfrog” production, which is when one team works on writing the first half of a show, while a second team starts writing the second half of the show as the first half is being filmed.

“We have to write all eight chapters up front before we can begin shooting the first chapter.”

Marling says that the show is a bit like filming a long movie, rather than filming a series. That’s like writing an 8-hour film every two years.

Marling didn’t give a specific date for the return of The OA, but she did promise fans that the show’s team would do their best to let fans in on the inside process as to how the show is proceeding over the next few weeks.