Good news for everyone who’s been lying in stasis since last October: Rick and Morty Season 3 will officially begin airing by the end 2016. That means we’ll have new episodes starting sometime in the next 12 weeks. A rapidly approaching new season, and the fact that Season 3 will include two extra episodes, is more good news than most fans of the Smith family can bear.

This week, the show’s newer writers, Erica Rosbe and Sarah Carbiener, confirmed via the Chicks Who Script podcast that Adult Swim will hold to its earlier promise: Season 3 will officially begin before 2017. Season 1, it’s worth pointing out, premiered on December 2.

As for what we can all expect, fans have speculated wildly about a possible return of Krombopulos Michael, who was last seen crushed under Rick’s spaceship. It’s been pointed out that Michael appears to be a part of a particularly militant species of aliens who number among the prison guards where Rick is being held. Whether that connection matters is still up for debate, but it’s unlikely that Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon left stray details in their painstakingly detailed sitcom.

In order to get the ball rolling again, Rick and Morty will have to catch up with the Smith family, whose home planet is now part of the Galactic Federation, and the show will have to somehow break Rick out of prison. Tammy, the undercover spy who killed Bird Person at her own wedding, is still at large, and of course, the last time we saw Squanchy, he was risking his life to pursue her and her cronies.

Season 3 of Rick and Morty will have the highest stakes the show has dealt with to date, so it remains to be seen how well new threats will be handled.