Slowly but surely, Warner Bros. is moving closer to making The Batman, the stand-alone Bruce Wayne film starring Ben Affleck. At first, the project was envisioned as an Affleckian hat-trick of sorts, with the Oscar-winner co-writing, helming, and starring in the film. However, it all started to fall apart earlier this year when Affleck announced that he would no longer direct it, as the sheer magnitude of the film required his full attention as an actor first. This was the first sign that the long-awaited solo movie would take slightly longer than expected to arrive. Now, it appears that Affleck won’t be responsible for co-writing the movie either, according to new director Matt Reeves. Cue the sad memes.

On Wednesday, the War for the Planet of the Apes director, who was brought on earlier this year to right the ship, revealed that he’d be scrapping the story ideas dreamt up by Affleck, Chris Terrio, and Geoff Johns.

“It’s a new story,” Reeves explained on the MTV podcast Happy Sad Confused. “It’s just starting again. I’m excited about it. I think it’s going to be really cool.”

Reeves’s take is going to be more of a noir-inspired superhero film.

“There’s a chance to do an almost noir-driven detective version of Batman that is point-of-view driven in a very, very powerful way, that will hopefully connect you to what’s going on inside of his head and inside of his heart,” he recently told New Trailer Buzz during a junket.

Reeves did not elaborate on a potential villain for the film. Initially, it was reported that Joe Manganiello would play Deathstroke in the original script, but that’s seemingly up in the air now that Reeves and his team are taking hold of the storyline.

When Reeves was initially tapped back in February—just one month after Affleck officially announced he was stepping away from directing—the actor signaled that all was well in batworld, writing a brief message to Reeves: “Welcome to the Batcave.”

Despite no longer being the main writer or director, Affleck will likely still enjoy a certain amount of creative control over the project, considering his relationship with Warner Bros. and his success with films like Batman v Superman. He’s also starring in the upcoming Justice League, which brings together a collection of superheroes like Wonder Woman and the Flash. Still, it’s hard not to let the mind wander after all these setbacks. You can see it now, can’t you? Affleck sitting in his office and staring forlornly at the remnants of his original Batman script, wondering where it all started to go wrong, as the dulcet vocals of Simon & Garfunkel play softly in the background.