In an E3 interview with Nintendo Life, Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino shed more light on the new structure of Layton’s Mystery Journey and where he sees the series going from here.

The reason the new game stars Katrielle instead of Professor Layton is because they wanted to focus more on everyday mysteries instead of epic, world-saving adventures.

Hino thought it would feel strange to take Professor Layton back to more mundane mysteries after all that, and instead decided to “bring in a new character, and then maybe scale up in the same way Layton did, where we start with small mysteries and then maybe five or six games later have a much bigger mystery.”

Five or six games later?

That’s right, this isn’t the end of the Layton series by any means. We’d wondered if Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy would be the start of a new series, especially once it adopted that title instead of Lady Layton, and it is.

Kat won’t necessarily be the protagonist for all of the games, but they do intend to make more Mystery Journey games.

(Also, this just occurred to me. Mystery Journey, Mystery Room? Could there be a connection there after all?)

Not only that, but we might get another Layton movie, too. After Professor Layton and the Eternal Movie, there were rumors of a second movie. Now, Hino says a new movie in the series is “being looked into.”

Finally, while there aren’t any new Layton crossovers in the works, he mentioned that they have “a good relationship with Capcom.” Who knows, maybe the Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright characters will return someday in a new game.

It’s exciting to hear that Layton’s Mystery Journey is the start of a new Layton series. It will also have a stronger emphasis on solving puzzles, with more puzzles than in any previous Professor Layton game. Remember, the worldwide mobile release and Japanese 3DS release is next month, with the localized 3DS release to follow in the fall.