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The rumors had been flying around this week after longtime Stanley Kubrick producer Jan Harlan reportedly let the word out early (though there was no official confirmation), but yes it’s true: Cary Fukunaga is in talks to direct Stanley Kubrick‘s dream project “Napoleon” for HBO.

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It was three years ago that we first heard word that “Napoleon,” which Kubrick researched meticulously and developed for years, would be getting the miniseries treatment on HBO. Longtime friend of the Kubrick family, Steven Spielberg, has been shepherding the project, and at one point, Baz Luhrmann was attached to direct. But given how busy he is at the moment with “The Get Down” for Netflix, it’s understandable why he exited.

As for Fukunaga, he certainly proved himself to HBO as the director of the entire, celebrated first season of “True Detective,” so it’s not a surprise they would want to work with him again, and trust him with a project of this scale and importance. But where it will fall in Fukunaga’s busy schedule remains to be seen. Earlier this spring it was reported he would be helming another TV series, the dark comedy “Maniac” starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, for DirecTV. He’s also executive producing and directing the pilot episode of “The Alienist” for TNT.

However, something tells me Fukunaga will push whatever he needs to out of the way to work on a project that was very close to Kubrick’s heart. Fukunaga will be granted access to the famed filmmaker’s archives, which is like winning the lottery for devoted cinephiles. And the plan is use those materials to help inspire this new iteration, that will run six hours long, and feature a script by David Leland (“The Borgias“) — it sounds like they will be expanding somewhat on Kubrick’s vision. And while that may seem like sacrilege, it should be remembered that Kubrick has such extensive research material on “Napoleon” that it would likely easily support opening up the parameters of the story beyond a feature.

This is hugely exciting news, but let’s hope that the next update we get isn’t in another three years — we want to see this one realized as soon as possible. [THR]