Universal has started the wheels moving on a sequel to the 1988 classic comedy Midnight Run.

The studio has hired Tim Dowling to write the comedy, with Robert De Niro reprising his role as Los Angeles-based bounty hunter Jack Walsh, the former Chicago cop who hunts the turncoat mob accountant played by Charles Grodin in time to collect a $100,000 fee. George Gallo wrote the original.

The film is being produced by De Niro and his Tribeca Productions partner Jane Rosenthal. It first came up when Deadline Hollywood revealed that the sequel was one of the films that WME had booked for De Niro before he returned to CAA.

No word on the plot, but Walsh will chase a new fugitive. Charles Grodin, who retired from acting to become a broadcast journalist, won’t return. Dowling’s script work included Role Models and Just Go With It, the Sony comedy that stars Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman.