Last October, Legendary tapped Krampus filmmaker Michael Dougherty and co-writer Zach Shields to pen the screenplay for Godzilla 2; not long after, we exclusively reported that Dougherty was also in talks to direct the follow-up to Gareth Edwards’ blockbuster revival. At the time, more than one source informed us that it was pretty much a done deal, but Legendary didn’t make Dougherty’s hiring publicly official until today.

Variety reports that Dougherty has officially signed on to helm Godzilla 2, which was recently retitled Godzilla: King of Monsters. The Krampus director has become a favorite over at the Legendary offices, where he’s been working over the last several months on the script and storyboards for the Godzilla sequel.

Dougherty is co-scripting the follow-up to Gareth Edwards’ 2012 monster blockbuster with Zach Shields, his collaborator on Krampus. Little is known about Godzilla: King of Monsters, though Edwards’ initial sequel plans were rumored to include Mechagodzilla — a creature originally introduced in 1974 as an extraterrestrial antagonist and later depicted as a man-made weapon to defend Japan from the iconic lizard-like monster.

Godzilla: King of Monsters will arrive in theaters on March 22, 2019, followed by the King Kong crossover Godzilla vs. Kong on May 29, 2020.

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