After years of stop-start momentum, Jamie Lee Curtis’ Murder, She Wrote remake just made its biggest move yet. Universal has tapped Jason Moore to direct the long-gestating adaptation of the iconic mystery series, marking a major step forward for the project. Moore will helm a script written by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, with Amy Pascal producing alongside Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Aditya Sood under Lord Miller’s first-look deal at Universal.

The project is especially fitting for Universal. The original Murder, She Wrote, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, and William Link, ran from 1984 to 1996 and starred Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher, the mystery novelist who somehow kept tripping over dead bodies in the coziest places imaginable. The series became an Emmy-winning staple and one of the most beloved procedural shows of all time.

Jamie Lee Curtis Says ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Will Be a “Modern” Retelling

Last year, appearing on British television show This Morning, Curtis was asked about the project and it was hard for her to hide her enthusiasm even when claiming — as of August, when the interview was conducted — that the project was in its infancy. Curtis‘ admiration for Lansbury also couldn’t be hidden, describing her as a “singular talent” and explaining how she would seek to put her own modern spin on things.

“It’s so interesting, because it’s very much in its infancy. It’s definitely happening. I was on the red carpet for Freakier Friday and someone asked if I would consider it, but it had already been announced in the trades, so I looked at this guy… and then obviously, that has travelled. There is nobody like Angela Lansbury. Nobody anywhere, any time. That is a singular talent, so this has to be a different version of it, this will be a modern version, it will be fun and we’ll shoot it next year.”

via Collider