The wheels are set in motion for a sequel to last year’s superhero dramedy Hancock, which raked in an astounding $628 million in worldwide box office sales($228 domestically). Director Peter Berg is set to return, and told MTV yesterday that stars Will Smith and Charlize Theron would reprise their roles:

Everybody’s going to come back for a sequel.

Considering it’s massive box-office success, the filmmakers were took their time to find a compelling way to continue the story, finishing an outline at the beginning of this summer.

Berg said:

It took us a while to start breaking a story that made sense to all of us. We finally did that about three months ago and hired writers immediately. Hopefully we’ll have a script soon. It’s something everybody’s anxious to get involved with.

Will Smith will be consulting on the continuing story of his character, the powerful John Hancock. The two new writers who have been hired to pen the script are Adam Fierro and Glen Mazzara, who have written for dramatic shows like FX’s The Shield and Showtime’s Dexter.

The big reveal at the end of the first Hancock was…

*****SPOILER START*****

…both Smith and Theron’s characters are immortal gods who become vulnerable when near each other.

While picking up after the events of the first film, Hancock 2 will delve deep into the origin story that will reveal the connection between the immortal god/superheroes played by Smith and Theron and how they came to be living in modern day Los Angeles.

*****SPOILER END*****

Berg explained:

We’re looking at exploring their relationship prior to when we first met them and seeing a bit of what happened as a prequel. I think we danced around the concept of an origins and we settled on something that is very substantive. That will part of the sequel.

Even with writers that come from shows with darker tones and plotlines, Berg told MTV that we should expect the same mix of laughs and emotion.

One thing we tried to do with the first one was balance comedy with more muscular drama, some would say to mixed results,” the director said. “Obviously there were some critics who were not entirely down with that tone. But we believe in it—that we can find both. With Will Smith you get that rare talent who can do broad comedy and is also capable of real emotional drama. We wanted writers who we felt could capture both of those tones.

For the sequel, Berg also said he’s got his eye on a well-known name to play another all-powerful superhero.

We have [someone in mind], I’m not gonna tell you who, but we have!

DJ Jazzy Jeff??? Nah! They’ll probably go for some rising star who is just begging to take control of his powers. Or they could go the older veteran route, and have him turn into the villain.. who knows?!

So what do you think of a Will Smith and Charlize Theron coming back for Hancock 2? What do you think of them exploring their origins?