Well, I think we can now say with some authority that Vin Diesel’s comeback is officially complete. Sure, he may have already brought the Fast & Furious franchise back from the edge of direct-to-DVD hell to become one of the highest grossing movie franchises of all time. But now he is about to top it all off with one of the most unlikely resurrections in cinematic history. That’s right, Xander Cage is back, baby! Vin Diesel confirmed this week that xXx 3 is actually happening and scheduled to start production by the end of the year. Here’s what he had to say on Instagram:

While I was filming XXX, guys on set called me Air Diesel… The time to return has come. Filming starts December in the Philippines. #ILiveForThisShit

A photo posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on Aug 23, 2015 at 1:36pm PDT

So there you have it. The extreme sports enthusiast / secret agent was thought to have been killed in xXx 2: State of the Union, which starred Ice Cube as a different character named Darius Stone. But apparently screenwriters John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris (Terminator Salvation, Surrogates) have come up some ingenious way to bring him back.

Given the current spate of spy movies, the return of the xXx makes a bit of sense. It is still unclear who might be directing the sequel, however. Rob Cohen, who directed the first xXx, was at one point attached to direct but then he dropped out and was replaced by Ericson Core (Invincible). Last we heard (which was back in 2010), Cohen was back on it again. Are you excited about xXx: The Return of Xander Cage and who would you like to see direct?