Bryan SingerWith just over a year and a half to go before X-Men: Days of Future Past is set to hit the big screen, there’s been a major change in seating positions on the project.

Matthew Vaughn, who directed the fantastic original prequel, X-Men: First Class, has stepped aside from the director’s chair, and Deadline are now reporting that Bryan Singer has just signed a deal to take Vaughn’s place.

Singer launched the franchise with X-Men back in 2000, and returned at the helm for 2003’s X2, and returned as a producer to work alongside Vaughn in First Class, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to see him back behind the camera for the sequel to the prequel.

Vaughn did an amazing job introducing us to our mutant friends in First Class, and having helped pen the script with past collaborator Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass) and Simon Kinberg (X-Men: The Last Stand), he’s in the process of making a deal to stay on as a producer for Days of Future Past.

Though there’s no official word yet, it’s also expected that Vaughn will be directing another film for Fox instead, which is likely to be, and we’re hoping will be, his adaptation of Mark Millar’s Secret Service.

The original cast are expected to return for the sequel, topped by Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence.

The studio are still hoping that X-Men: Days of Future Past will be on track for its 18th July, 2014 release date, so here’s to hoping that it will be a swift transition for the blockbuster with Singer now in the director’s chair. More as we get it.