Announced in August, when Joss Whedon signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Studios, ABC’s ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ will mark the return of the director to television. This return will give us a glimpse into the world of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division (aka S.H.I.E.L.D.), one of the peace-keeping bodies in the Marvel Universe. Things have been well on their way towards production for some time now, especially after ‘Stargate Universe’ and ‘Eureka’ actress Ming-Na and Marvel movie veteran Clark Gregg, who will be reprising his role as Agent Phil Coulson, signed on to the project. According to a new report from Comic Book Resources, this pilot is already well on its way to begin shooting, just in time for the fall 2013 season.

Thanks to a new listing on Television Show Auditions, a site for casting calls, we’ve discovered that cameras on Whedon’s new show could roll as soon as mid-January in Los Angeles. The small blurb calling for extras gives this bit of information about the show that we basically already know:

“’S.H.I.E.L.D.’ will be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sharing constancy with the films in that franchise. ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ will be independent from The Avengers film, and people who haven’t seen the Marvel movies can jump right in and understand the storylines. There will generally be new characters and agents who are not superheroes, and even though they are a large organization, they will be underdogs since they still exist in that superhero universe.”

Joss will be directing the series pilot and if it gets picked up, his brother Jed Whedon and Jed’s wife Maurissa Tancharoen will become the showrunners. With ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ shooting so soon, it’s very possible that it could be a part of ABC’s spring upfront presentations. Alternatively, they could save it for a premiere at San Diego Comic Con to test it in front of fan audiences before showing it to the masses. Either way, this thing is very much becoming a reality sooner rather than later. True believers out there have reason to rejoice.