Personally, I loved Funny People, but with both critical and public reception more lukewarm for it than Judd Apatow’s previous efforts, the acclaimed director is heading back to more familiar territory. His next film, still untitled, will follow married couple Pete and Debbie. Yes, that would be the same Pete and Debbie previously seen in Knocked Up played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann.

Both Rudd and Mann have already signed on to reprise their roles as a married couple, though word is the project won’t be a straight spinoff or a sequel. Think The Cleveland Show with less talking bears or Get Him To The Greek with less P. Diddy. Expect the two main characters you’ve come to love, though not necessarily inhabiting the same world we saw in Knocked-Up. I wonder if they’ve gotten out to see Spider-Man 3 yet?

The film will begin shooting this summer in Los Angeles in preparation to be released June 1st, 2012. Apatow will write, direct and produce, the fourth time he’s done so after The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked-Up and Funny People.

No further plot details are known, but it will be interesting to see whether he casts a net as wide as he did in Funny People or reels it back in a bit to tell a more simplistic love story here. Either way, Judd Apatow has proved enough to warrant interest from both comedy and drama fans. Here’s to hoping he keeps sharpening his skills and improving en route to becoming the director he’s capable of being.

Here's a little reminder of what Pete and Debbie are all about, in the form of a scene from Knocked Up: