Director Robin Hardy has passed away at the age of 86.

A family friend confirmed that the British director passed on Friday, but we don't know the cause of death at this time (via BBC)

Hardy was best known for his directorial effort The Wicker Man, which originally released to theatres in 1973. It told the story of Sergeant Howie, who travels to a Scottish island village to find a missing girl, but in this place, things are far from what they seem. He also directed The Wicker Tree in 2011.

Recently a third film in the series had been planned, which would partly act as a tribute to the late Sir Christopher Lee, who appeared in the original film and at one point called it the "best performance I believe I've ever given". Lee passed away last year.

"I always planned for there to be a number of films in what I like to think of as The Wicker Man genre" Hardy said, "and although it has been a long time in the making I think fans will find it worth the wait, especially as they can now get involved with the final film in a way that would have been unimaginable when I made the original more than 40 years ago."