We’ve long heard that The LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller would likely not return to helm the follow-up, and now it’s been made official. Luckily, the dynamic duo have found a talented replacement, in the form of Community, Parks and Recreation and The Mindy Project director Rob Schrab.
Lord and Miller will produce and write the film based on a story by Jared Stern and Michelle Morgan, which is expected to take a real-time fast forward and pick up the adventure four years after the first installment. The LEGO Movie 2 will mark Schrab’s directorial debut, but Lord and Miller seem fully confident in his ability to handle the ambitious property, saying the following in a recent statement:
“We are so excited to collaborate with Rob. He is a comedy genius, a visual savant, and we have been stalking him for years. No one works harder than Rob, and his aesthetic, combined with his sense of humor, bring a strong, unique, thoughtful and passionately nerdy voice to this project. People who know him are slapping their foreheads today and saying, ‘Of course!'”
Schrab isn’t the only Community alum to land a tentpole film after working on the cult favorite series. Anthony and Joe Russo famously took the reigns of last year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and are now on the shortlist to helm Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2 for Marvel. It’s great to see talented directors make the jump from the small screen to the big screen, and I’m excited to see what someone like Schrab does in the cinematic LEGO sandbox that Lord and Miller created.
The LEGO Movie 2 will hit theaters on May 26th, 2017.