Will we see a drunk Santa Claus again later this year?

It’s hard to believe how long it’s been since Billy Bob Thornton’s hilarious hit Bad Santa hit theaters many years ago. It’s lived on for plenty of Christmases, and though the idea and news of a sequel has surfaced here and there, nothing has ever been concrete. Last we’ve heard, the film was undergoing a script, under two different writers, and the production would eventually choose between the two drafts. Now, star Thornton says that a sequel is so close, production will start sooner than we think.

The Playlist (via Slashfilm) spoke with Thornton from the Berlin International Film Festival, and the actor said the film is actually on course to film this Fall. “…the writer is still working on the script, he’s doing his rewrite right now. We saw the first draft and we just had a few little things we wanted to take away or add and he’s doing that. The plan is to shoot that in the fall.”

It’s said that the sequel is aiming for a Christmas 2013, but nothing at this point is certain, including the production of the film itself. If the film releases in ’13, it would hit theaters exactly ten years after the first film did the same.