Ya damn dirty apes! Pre production is picking up speed right now on the upcoming sequel to Rise of the planet of the apes, which will see director Matt Reeves fast forwarding fifteen years into the future to tell the story of mankinds losing fight to retain dominance over the planet.

Thanks to the apes being smarter, and a virus that has wiped most of mankind out, things are looking grim. But at least Gary Oldman will still be alive to fight the good fight.

Coming off a fresh sci-fi gig involving a certain cybernetic cop with prime directives, Oldman will be joining Kodi Smit McPhee, Andy Serkis and Jason Clarke as they fight the ape rebellion started by Caesar fifteen years previously.

Caesar has some problems of his own though, as he’s struggling to retain alpha-ape status in his growing kingdom, leading to some infighting amongst the apes. Oldman has just got off the Robocop set, and he’ll also be appearing in the upcoming Robert Luketic industrial espionage drama Pananoia, later this year.

Filming for Dawn of the planet of the apes kicks off this month in New Orleans, for a May 23 release date next year.