These remakes, reboots, re-whatever-you-want-to-call-them are going to keep happening whether you like it or not. One of the nuttier concepts is the long-developing remake of John Carpenter’s cult classic Escape From New York — the good news is that Carpenter himself is creatively overseeing and executive producing the project, and the other good news is that Luther creator Neil Cross has been tapped to write the screenplay. This thing might turn out okay.

THR reports that Fox has hired Cross to script the Escape From New York remake, based on Carpenter’s 1981 classic. The original film took place in a post-apocalyptic future (1997!), where the entire island of Manhattan has been transformed into a maximum security prison. When the President unwittingly finds himself trapped on the island, a renegade (professional lone badass Kurt Russell) is sent in to retrieve him.

It’s unclear how closely the new film will hew to the original, but Carpenter is heavily involved with the project, which has had a long development history — Joel Silver was previously attached to produce before Fox won the rights to distribute the remake in a bidding war, and names like Tom Hardy, Jason Statham and Chris Hemsworth have been rumored over the last couple of years.

The latest report also suggests that Fox is hoping to kickstart a new, successful franchise similar to their Planet of the Apes run.

Cross is best known for creating the BBC series Luther, starring Idris Elba in the titular role of loose cannon detective John Luther. He also wrote the screenplay for the 2013 horror film Mama, starring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

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