It appears the search continues for a director to helm Marvel’s Ant-Man. There had been announcements as late as Friday evening that Adam McKay, director of Anchorman, had agreed to take over the reins for the recently departed Edgar Wright. However, Variety reports that negotiations have broken off between the two parties and McKay will not be directing the film.

His name was one of three that had been in the running for the job; the other two being Rawson Marshall Thurber who directed the Jennifer Aniston movie, We’re the Millers, last year and Gangster Squad, directed by Ruben Fleischer, both of whom had also met with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

This would have been McKay’s first superhero film, having been a comedy director best known for the Anchorman films and the co-founder of the website Funny or Die.

Though there is no specific reason yet being given as to McKay’s departure, some could speculate that the previously set release date of the film, nearly a year from now on July 15, 2015, may not leave a new filmmaker enough time to realize the film they want to deliver. With the sudden departure of Wright at a time when pre-production and script development are basically complete, it might seem that a new director would merely be brought in to execute the film that Wright had intended to make.

Late script revisions that were allegedly done without the knowledge of Wright and co-writer, Joe Cornish, prompted the fan favorite director best known for Shaun of the Dead and, most recently, The World’s End to depart the project.