Ryan Reynolds is adding co-writer to his list of credits on Deadpool 2. The Deadpool films have undoubtedly been a labor of love for Reynolds, especially as he tried to right the ship for the character or Wade Wilson and his crime-fighting alter-ego following its underwhelming debut in the critical-and fan-maligned debut in the 2009 X-Men spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine. His passion as an actor and producer ultimately paid off big in 2016, when his proper, R-rated version of Deadpool earned $363 million domestically and $420 million internationally for an astounding global take of $783 million.

Naturally, the massive success of the first Deadpool film called for another chapter, and smartly, Reynolds brought back the original movie’s co-writers Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick to pen the Deadpool 2 script. But now, it seems Reynolds’ already large influence on the film franchise has gotten just a bit bigger, one day after the official Deadpool 2 trailer was released online.

According to the official Deadpool 2 page on the 20th Century Fox website, the official screenwriting credits for the film go to “Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Ryan Reynolds”, which expands Reynolds’ already huge involvement on the film as its star and producer. It’s a watershed moment for Reynolds, who, despite dozens of credits as an actor and seven credits as a producer (including films in development), has never had a writing credit before.

It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Reynolds is getting a co-writer credit on Deadpool 2, considering how much you have to believe he contributes to the film with his improvised lines alone. But clearly with the credit, it shows that he helped shaped the overall story as well. Lucky for fans, a telling sign that it was a positive collaboration is that Reese’s, Wernick’s and Reynolds’ names are separated by ampersands (&), which indicates they penned the script as a team of writers (via a Writers Guild of America clause).

On the flip side, had Reynolds’ name been separated by Wernick & Reese by an “and,” that would have been an indication that Reynolds either made alterations to the pair’s original script or perhaps a rewrite. And while alterations and rewrites are commonplace in the industry and don’t necessarily signal animosity on a project, it’s a relief to know that Wernick, Reese and Reynolds worked in-tandem on Deadpool 2, especially given the heightened expectations of the film after the wonderfully surprising results of the first Deadpool. Fans, naturally, will be the final judge of the sequel’s script and Reynolds’ added touch on Deadpool 2 when it hits theaters in May.

MORE: X-Force Confirmed For Deadpool 2 - Who’s On the Team?

Sources: 20th Century Fox, Writers Guild of America

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