It’s been quite some time since we last heard any updates regarding the feature film adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s epic novel Snow Crash, but that changes today. The project first gained steam in June 2012, when Attack the Block helmer Joe Cornish was hired to write and direct the feature film adaptation for Paramount. Producer Kathleen Kennedy was clearly impressed with Cornish’s work co-writing Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin with Edgar Wright and Steven Moffat, and thus he was tapped to spearhead the movie version of the bestseller, which takes place in the near future where the U.S. has been divided up into corporate city-states.

While folks may have been curious if the project had simply faded into development hell, Collider’s own Steven Weintraub recently spoke with producer Frank Marshall who gave a promising update on the project, saying that filming might finally get underway in 2017:

“It’s a very, very cool book; and Joe Cornish is developing it with us and I hope we get started on that next year, I’m excited about that one… It’s a complicated story. It takes place in the near future and it has a lot of virtual reality in it, it’s a character that goes back-and-forth between what’s called the ‘metaverse’ in Los Angeles, but the sequences are fantastic and it really gives Joe the opportunity to show that great imagination that he has and create some fantastic scenes. If you look it up you’ll see it’s sort of the bible of the internet universe. Neil wrote this back in the ‘90s and you’ll see it’s a very highly regarded book.”

Indeed, fans of the book have been eager to see it make the leap to the big screen for years, and Cornish’s hiring was a big step towards making the Snow Crash movie a reality. In the wake of Attack the Block Cornish considered a few high-profile blockbuster projects (he was offered Star Trek Beyond) but eschewed those kinds of films in favor of crafting his own thing. It’s been five years since Attack the Block hit theaters, but Snow Crash would make for a hell of a follow-up. Here’s hoping this thing actually gets going in 2017.