Lots of news on the Fifty Shades front – a new photo of star Jamie Dornan from the next film, Fifty Shades Darker, was released along with the DVD of Fifty Shades of Grey this week.

Co. Down native Dornan will have plenty of hometown company on the upcoming set, as EL James, the writer of the Fifty Shades trilogy, has enlisted her husband, Niall Leonard from Newry, Co. Down, to write the screenplay for Fifty Shades Darker, due in theaters on February 10, 2017, and the last one, Fifty Shades Freed, out on February 9, 2018.

Dornan played the S&M obsessed Christian Grey in the first Fifty Shades film that bowed in February. He and co-star Dakota Johnson were reported to be looking for more money for the two sequels considering the massive success of the first film, so things must be sorted out on that front given the release of a masked Dornan/Grey looking into a mirror to tease Fifty Shades Darker.

Leonard, married to James for 28 years (they have two sons), is hardly getting the screenwriting job due to nepotism. He’s written for the popular Irish soap Ballykissangel and a number of other shows on the BBC, and at one point was the script editor for BBC Northern Ireland.

Fifty Shades of Grey producer Michael De Luca said, "Niall is an outstanding writer in his own right, with multiple established credits, and we are lucky to have him join Team Fifty.”

No word yet on when filming for Fifty Shades Darker will commence.