Tom Hanks and Ron Howard are going to do a sequel to their 2006 blockbuster “The Da Vinci Code” but it will be based on an earlier novel called “Angels & Demons”. Novelist Dan Brown wrote this first adventure of symbologist Robert Langdon four years before the character found international fame in “Da Vinci” and since there is no sequel to the latter book at the present time Howard is going one step back in the past to base his second movie on.

“Angels & Demons” will see Langdon called to a Swiss research facility to try and uncover why an ancient symbol was seared into the chest of a scientist. As Langdon investigates the mystery he discovers a plot against the Vatican organized by a shadowy underground network that is called the Illuminati.

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is trying to finish the screenplay before a writers strike is scheduled to hit Hollywood on November 1. Howard wants to start filming “Angels & Demons” in the new year and have it in theaters next December.