Shane Black's planned "Predator" sequel has inched one stealthy step closer to reality, with screenwriter Fred Dekker revealing on Monday that the script has been turned in.

The "Iron Man 3" director, who had a role in the 1987 original, signed on to the Fox sequel in June 2014, but there hasn't been much public movement on the project since. However, franchise producer John Davis assured fans in August that the screenplay by Black and Dekker, who collaborated on "Monster Squad," is "genius."

“I’m telling you, you’re going to get something you don’t expect and you’re going to say, ‘This is the most entertaining way to reinvent a franchise,’" Davis said. "I mean he’s the guy who wrote ‘Iron Man 3.’”

Although initial reports referred to the new "Predator" as a franchise reboot, Black was quick to clarify that it's an "inventive sequel": “Why start over, when you’ve all this rich mythology yet to mine?”

(via Bloody Disgusting)