After giving us the best two entries in the Die Hard series, Predator, The Hunt for Red October, and other action classics, John McTiernan will finally be returning to filmmaking this year. The director, who last helmed Basic in 2003, will soon be ending his 12-month prison stint following charges tied to Anthony Pellicano‘s wiretapping scandal, in which he lied to an FBI agent about previously hiring the private investigator.

With those events behind him come this April, he’s now jumped aboard his first project in over a decade. Variety reports the helmer will make Red Squad for Hannibal Classics. Beginning production this spring, shortly after he’s released from prison, the project follows a former DEA agent and his band of mercenaries who aim to take down a drug kingpin in a Mexican border town.

Scripted by Cannon and Jorge Suarez, it doesn’t sound like the most original of plots, but McTiernan’s skills lies in elevating what could be generic action features to something much more. As for Hannibal Classics, their only notable previous release being the Bruce Willis/50 Cent bargain bin thriller Set Up doesn’t instill much excitement, but under McTiernan’s direction, we’re looking forward to it.

Are you looking forward to the return of McTiernan?