After he’s done with X-Men: Apocalypse, director Bryan Singer is taking a break from mutants and moving on to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Last September, Singer said of the project that it “contains not only the original characters of Captain Nemo, Ned Land and Professor Aronnax, but also some new and original characters and sci-fi plot twists culminating in a timeless adventure for all ages.”

However, it looks like he’ll be keeping to the original time period of Jules Verne’s novel. The original story takes place in 1866, and Singer believes keeping the story in the aftermath of the Civil War is the right movie. The director tells Empire while speaking about the latest trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse:

“It’s the same reason I’m setting 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea right after the Civil War. Everything wasn’t suddenly hunky-dory between the North and the South - there was still hostility and tension. The same thing exists here.”

So will Singer’s Leagues deal with discrimination? It’s a theme he’s never shied away from, and it’s been one of the more potent aspects of his X-Men movies (especially X2). I’ll be definitely be curious to see what he brings to the material, and how the post-war setting affects the look and feel of the picture.

There’s currently no release date yet for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but filming is set to begin this fall from script by Rick Sordelet and Dan Studney (Jack the Giant Slayer).