Grab some tater tots and prepare a nice lobster bath for Andy Serkis, who might be taking on the Venom symbiote for its upcoming sequel. Not onscreen, mind you—according to recent reports in the Hollywood trades, the Planet of the Apes and Lord of the Rings breakout would instead take over the director’s chair from Ruben Fleischer in order to accommodate a fall 2020 production.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Serkis flew to Los Angeles for meetings with Sony to direct the feature, which would follow the original MCU-adjacent film’s $856 million global box office. Serkis—who also appeared in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther as the villainous Ulysses Klaue—has upped his behind-the-camera cred in recent years helming second units for The Hobbit trilogy and directing the Rudyard Kipling-inspired Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle for Netflix.

Also on the shortlist to direct the untitled Venom sequel are Bumblebee director Travis Knight and Serkis’ own Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt. According to Variety, “Insiders say these are just meetings and no one has moved into a front-runner position.” Original Venom director Ruben Fleischer is reportedly too busy with post-production on October’s Zombieland: Double Tap to return for the sequel, which Sony intends to begin shooting in November.

Beyond title star Tom Hardy, it is unclear who from the original film’s supporting cast of Michelle Williams, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate, and Riz Ahmed—the latter two of which are not expected for plot reasons—might return for the Kelly Marcel-penned sequel. The initial film’s post-credits scene also included a cameo from Woody Harrelson as serial killer Cletus Kassady, likely to set up a role as Venom antagonist Carnage for a future film.