After years of making stunning and audacious genre features, Guillermo del Toro finally secure himself a much-deserved Oscar last month. The Best Picture-winning The Shape of Water earned the Mexican filmmaker the prize for Best Director, but that’s just the second bit of good news in del Toro’s 2018 so far.

On Tuesday, Fox Searchlight announced that they’ve inked a brand new deal with del Toro. The studio behind The Shape of Water has partnered again with del Toro for new live-action films that he’ll write, direct, and produce. Even better, Fox Searchlight is also founding a new label with the Pan’s Labyrinth filmmaker, one that will serve as a home for horror, sci-fi and fantasy projects produced and curated by del Toro. If you loved The Shape of Water (as this critic did), this is exciting news.

But even if you weren’t crazy about the fish sex romance, no worries. This partnership forecasts a promising future for awesome horror and fantasy films, and genre pictures with the del Toro stamp of approval is enough to boost something from merely interesting to must-see. In the press release, del Toro said of the deal, “For the longest time, I’ve hoped to find an environment in which I can distribute, nurture and produce new voices in smart, inventive genre films and channel my own.”

The first film to be released under the deal will be the previously announced Antlers from Hostiles and Black Mass director Scott Cooper. Del Toro will produce the film, which follows a school teacher who discovers a troubled student is harboring a family secret with deadly consequences. Fingers crossed whatever project comes next launches the del Toro Fish Sex Cinematic Universe. (OK, kidding. Or am I?)

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