Like Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith has been planning an early retirement from filmmaking for several years. In December, he announced that his final film will be Clerks 3, but he recently amended the plan. While Smith may still make this film, he first plans to continue the franchise in a different medium. “I want to do Clerks 3 as a book first," he told NewTek last week. “I want to do it in episodic chapters, so that as I release it, people can read the whole thing and see what it would look like.”

Describing the series as if its exceedingly modest exploration of everyday life was some kind of elaborate mythical saga, Smith explains that the novel form will allow him to explore his characters’ origin stories and get deeper into their psyches. “All the stuff I can’t do in a movie, that’s what I want to do because I’m a stoner,” he said. “I want to investigate the inner life of every character and I can’t do that in 90 minutes with a film."

By Smith’s own admission, his almost religious devotion to the stoner lifestyle has radically altered his career path in recent years. Always a writer first and a director second, he may be able to tap into his talents more directly in the novel form, but there’s also the danger that he will lose his focus in a series of drug-fuelled ramblings, particularly if he chooses to work without an editor. Even if Smith manages to harness his best material and excise the drivel, expect Clerks 3 to emanate the distinct scent of marijuana.