Despite delays, reshoots and mixed reviews, ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ was a film that did well enough at the box office that Paramount decided to green light a third film in the franchise. Returning to helm the film is Jon Chu who’ll be working off a script written by Evan Daugherty. Daugherty, some may recall, is the scribe who wrote ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’, ‘Divergent’, and worked on the script of the controversial Michael Bay reboot film ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ While we haven’t heard much about ‘G.I. Joe 3’ lately, the director did take time to give fans an update as to where it now stands.

While talking to Super Hero Hype, Chu did confirm that the film is in preproduction and there will be many surprises in store for fans:

“I love being active in world-building, so we’re working on “G.I. Joe 3″ right now. We’re designing tons of stuff, which takes a little bit, but to me, that’s obviously where I like to push myself and where I want to be for a long time and get to know better…I’m excited to bring in new characters and fun things beyond Bruce and Dwayne that we’re working on and some great villains, but we’re forming those ideas now. I’m really excited – it’s going to be a whole ‘nother level.”

Of course, talk of ‘G.I. Joe 3’ isn’t complete without the mention of whether Channing Tatum will return in the role of Duke. Despite the character’s demise in ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’, rumors still persist of Tatum’s character appearing. Chu neither confirms nor denies the possibility:

“It all gets carried away again. They asked me about Channing and I don’t know. You never know in these movies, and that’s all I said, and suddenly it became “Channing Tatum might be back.” To me, every possibility is open and we’re writing the script right now and we’re figuring everything out. It’s an extremely low possibility when you kill somebody like that, it’s pretty much it, but you never know with “G.I. Joe.” We did that with Storm Shadow, too.”

As of yet, it is unknown for certain which actors will be returning for this sequel other than  Adrianne Palicki who will be reprising her role as Lady Jaye, but it should be a pretty sure bet that Dwayne Johnson will be returning as he helped make the movie a success.

So when will the film begin production? “I think we’re going to be shooting next year,” answers Chu. “We’re pretty motivated to get that up.”