Hayao Miyazaki is Coming Out of Retirement for One Last Movie (Again)

Hayao Miyazaki, the acclaimed director behind My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, has had a few final movies. Both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away were reported as his “final movie,” but after each, he was drawn back into the filmmaking fold. As it turns out, Miyazaki’s most recent retirement, reported in 2013 following the release of The Wind Rises, isn’t permanent, either.

Miyazaki has been working on a CG short film called Boro the Caterpillar, based on a story idea he’s had for 20 years, but, according to io9, it was announced in an NHK television special called The Man Who Is Not Done that Miyazaki was unhappy with the short film and wants to expand it into a feature film.

Miyazaki said that the feature-length movie isn’t even technically greenlit yet, but it’s hard to imagine Studio Ghibli would turn down another movie from one of the most famous Japanese filmmakers of all time. Greenlight or no, Miyazaki has already been making storyboards for the movie, which is projected to be completed before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.