Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James has confirmed that Jamie Dornan will play Christian Grey.

Her confirmation arrives the day after we first learned that Dornan had been offered the role of the lead Fifty Shades character who becomes infatuated with Anastasia Steele (played by Dakota Johnson). Filming is set to begin next month, so Universal and Focus Features were in a crunch to decide who would take the role after Charlie Hunnam’s sudden departure nearly two weeks ago.

Wrote James on Twitter:

The response from fans so far has been almost entirely positive concerning Dornan’s casting. Most readers believe the new star is a better fit for the role compared to Hunnam thanks to Dornan’s impeccably good looks. The only group of people who seem to be up in arms over the casting are Once Upon a Time fans who know him as Sheriff Graham/The Huntsman on the ABC drama.

Even so, some Once fans accept that he needs to be expanding his career. By taking on the role, Dornan will be pushed into the Hollywood spotlight and suddenly have a much more noticeable resume. His two biggest projects to date are the ABC fairy tale drama and a British drama called The Fall.

As we told you on Wednesday, Dornan is also an underwear model so fans were instantly able to understand his sex appeal after a quick Google search.

Fifty Shades of Grey’s release date is set for August 1, 2014. Thanks to casting Dornan this week, that date seems to be safe from a push back.