A few years ago, writer/author Seth Grahame-Smith came to prominence as the guy behind the genre mash-ups Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. He wrote both books and the script for the latter, and he went on to pen the screenplay for Tim Burton’s less-than-spectacular Dark Shadows. But that project sparked up a friendship between Grahame-Smith and the filmmaker that saw Grahame-Smith subsequently taking a stab at a screenplay for a potential Beetlejuice sequel. In addition to Beetlejuice 2, the scribe became attached to a number of of genre properties as either a writer, producer, or both, ranging from Something Wicked This Way Comes to the LEGO spinoffs to a Gremlins remake.

Grahame-Smith recently sat down with the folks at EW and gave updates on the litany of projects on his plate, including Beetlejuice 2, which he says could very well be Tim Burton next film after he completes Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (which begins production soon). He also revealed what happened to that Gremlins remake. Read on after the jump.

Speaking with EW, Grahame-Smith corroborated what Burton has been saying recently with regards to the status of Beetlejuice 2:

“I think we landed on the right idea, landed on the right approach. It’s just now making sure that — for me — I don’t want to shit my pants in front of the entire world making a sequel to one of my favorite movies.”

The scribe revealed that he’s completed a few drafts of the script, Winona Ryder’s Lydia will return, and it could start moving forward by late this year:

“I’ve emailed with Michael Keaton. I know he’s excited about the idea. I know Tim is excited about the idea. Where it stands now is Tim’s got to get ready to make [Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children] and then hopefully we are set, deals are done, and we’re waiting in the wings ready to go right after Peregrine’s wraps up. The ideal timeline is we’re really getting into it toward the end of this year.”

As for Gremlins, we learned in 2013 that Grahame-Smith and his producing partner David Katzenberg would eyeing a remake of the classic Joe Dante film at Warner Bros. Grahame-Smith confirms he brought the story to Steven Spielberg and Gremlins screenwriter Chris Columbus, but it seems to have fizzled out:

“It was a completely different cast of characters, but acknowledging the events of the first two movies…I think we just ran out of steam. It’s one of those things where everybody got busy doing other things. It’s something I would love to come back to, but right now Steven’s making two movies back to back and Chris Columbus is busy. We’re all taking a five-minute break on that.”

I’m not wholly opposed to the idea of making another Gremlins movie altogether (though I’d rather Hollywood focus on original ideas), but I’m not entirely convinced Grahame-Smith is the guy to do it. For more updates on some of his other projects, head over to EW. With any luck, pre-production on Beetlejuice 2 will be underway this time next year.