RiddickThe past few weeks have been fairly quiet on the Riddick front, but for those of us eagerly awaiting the return of Vin Diesel as one of the best antiheroes of recent years, today is a good day.

Not only has Diesel said that he’s seen the first cut of the third instalment in the Riddick franchise, and that he’s so affected and excited by it that he couldn’t sleep, but he’s shared another brilliant new image from the production – as always, courtesy of his own Facebook.

“You know I like to let you in on things, even before Hollywood knows…

Haha…

Last night I was invited in to the editing room, to see the first cut of the new Riddick…

WOW!!!

P.s. I was so affected/excited… I couldn’t sleep.

GRRRR!!!”

Writer-director David Twohy re-teams with Diesel once more for their third outing, with Karl Urban reprising his role as Vaako from The Chronicles of Riddick, and a new supporting line-up headed up by Katee Sackhoff, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Bokeem Woodbine, Nolan Gerard Funk, singer-turning-actress Keri Hilson, and WWE’s Dave Bautista.

“The latest chapter of the groundbreaking saga that began with 2000?s hit sci-fi film Pitch Black and 2004?s The Chronicles of Riddick reunites writer/director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, The Fugitive) and star Vin Diesel (the Fast and Furious franchise, xXx). Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy.

The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won’t leave the planet without Riddick’s head as their trophy.”

There’s still no word yet on exactly when we can expect it on the big screen, with Universal saying that the earliest they could release it is January, 2013 – and that news came with Diesel teasing the studio’s hopes for a fourth and fifth film, Underverse and Furya, which is a show of how much they must be impressed by the latest instalment.

Whenever it lands, my ticket money is guaranteed in advance – it’s still so good to know that this sequel is actually happening. As always with this great new image, you can click to enlarge. More as we get it.

Riddick