Huzzah! Andy Serkis has signed onto the sequel for “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”!

The Hollywood Reporter has an article outlining the particulars of Serkis’ return to the highly successful franchise, which also starred James Franco, John Lithgow, Frieda Pinto and Tom Felton, which includes Fox exercising its option on the director of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” Rupert Wyatt, and asking “Rise” writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver to write a script for the sequel.

Also, according to the site, Serkis didn’t originally have a deal for a sequel. Now, that Serkis has proven he can add weight and depth to a role in order to create one of the most emotionally-realistic 3D-rendered characters, Fox has given him a huge deal in order for Serkis to come back as Caesar.

I’m really excited. As an “Apes” fan, I loved the film and loved all of the tidbits that referred to the other movies. But like everyone has been saying, Serkis needs to be nominated for an Oscar, and hopefully, become the first actor to win an Oscar in the Best Actor category for a CG character, since he wasn’t just providing his voice–he really was acting. I hope that in the next film, there can be even more for Serkis to do–seeing him top his already-fantastic performance in “Rise” would be awesome.