R Kelly has 40 more chapters of Trapped in the Closet planned

We might be blessed with more instalments of the largely kitchen-based hip-hopera

Those already inducted into the sublime, bizarre world of R. Kelly's rap opera Trapped in The Closet will undoubtedly rejoice on hearing the rapper's officially unveiled plans to release an additional 40 chapters to the already 33-chaptered saga.

Running between 2005-2012, initially off the back of Kelly's TP.3 Reloaded album, the 133-minute series featured the gradually unfolding tale of Sylvester (R. Kelly)'s own descent into an underbelly of lies, sex, and deceit; one which eventually gathered a kind of near-cult fascination from its audience.

Half-genuine awe, half-hysterical fascination with Kelly's larger-than-life-universe populated with corrupt cops and dwarf strippers, the self-titled 'hip hopera' continually reeled audiences back with each closing chapter's cliffhanger lines, such as Sylvester discovering his wife's infidelity with the declaration "Oh, my God, a rubber!"

It's a phenomenon obsessively parodied over its lifetime, from South Park's Scientology-twist on the Trapped in the Closet title to "Weird Al" Yankovic's spoof track "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" (surely, a Weird Al song is the definitive sign something's made into the cultural mainstream). Last month even witnessed a New Jersey theater host an orchestra-scored screening of the series as their Halloween event.

According to Kelly, the saga's indeed far from over. Speaking to Complex, the artist revealed 40 more chapters have already been both written and recorded; now simply awaiting filming and release. As the last chapter saw Sylvester and Twan (Eric Lane) evading a gang of mobsters by crashing onto the set of Jerry Springer-esque talk show titled 'Out of the Closet', the next will take place entirely within that show and, according to Kelly, will manage to feature appearances from every character of the series so far. Sounds impossibly ambitious, yet we'd never expect anything less from Trapped in the Closet.

With Kelly's new album Buffet landing next month, the promised new chapters should hopefully be making an appearance not long after.