Los Angeles, Dec 6 (IANS): After rumours of several months, the sequel to director Danny Boyle's 1996 hit "Trainspotting" is now officially underway.

The original cast members such as Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner and Robert Carlyle are also back to reprise their respective roles in "Trainspotting 2", reports hollywoodreporter.com.

John Hodge, who wrote the screenplay for the first movie, is also back as writer. Boyle will produce alongside Andrew Macdonald, Christian Colson and Bernie Bellew.

Filming is expected to commence in late spring 2016 with plans to release the film in 2017.

The original film was based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. It centered on a group of lower income heroin users in Edinburgh drifting through their lives.

"It's been 20 years since we met these characters and John Hodge's screenplay brilliantly explores what's happened to them - and to us - in the intervening years," Boyle earlier said in an interview.

"We are grateful to Tom and Hannah for their support and we can't wait to get going."