The sequel to The Dark Crystal is still “inching” its way towards production, according to artist Brian Froud.

A follow up to Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s film has been in the works for several years now, with talk of blending puppetry, animatronics and CGI animation. But there hasn’t been any visible movement. Now Total Film is reporting that Froud, a fantasy illustrator who was the primary concept artist for the 1982 original — as well as on Labyrinth (1986) — has been talking about the project with Leicester Square Television.

Froud and his wife Wendy – who also worked with her husband on the Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, creating creatures, sets and props — were promoting their new fortune-telling card set, The Heart Of Faerie Oracle, when chat turned to the movie.

Brian said, “I don’t know how many years they’ve been trying to do a Dark Crystal 2, but we are involved. I have done some designs and I’ve been talking to the director, we’ve been involved in the script. We don’t know quite when it’s gonna go.”

And Wendy stated that “it’s inching its way closer,” adding that the sequel, tentatively titled The Power of the Dark Crystal, will stay true to its Puppetry roots. “The backgrounds will be CGI, but the main characters will be puppets,” she said. “They decided that was really the only way they wanted to do it to keep the integrity.”

Total Films says that, last they heard, director Michael Gracey was at the helm and the film was slated for a 2011 release.

Meanwhile, Empire Online is guessing that “the director” to whom Froud refers is Genndy Tartakovsky, the Russian-born animator behind Samurai Jack, The Clone Wars and Dexter’s Laboratory.

The Dark Crystal takes place on the planet Thra, in an age of chaos. Jen, an orphaned Gelfling, embarks on a quest to find a missing piece of the crystal and restore order to the universe.