Alien: Covenant Is First Movie In Ridley Scott's New Prequel Trilogy

There's been a lot of news about the Alien movie franchise recently, mostly in respects to the delay of director Neill Blomkamp's untitled sequel in favor of Ridley Scott moving ahead on a sequel to his own Prometheus, previously known as Alien: Paradise Lost. But now a real bombshell has been dropped by Scott himself: his next movie will in fact be called Alien: Covenant, and is the first film in a new prequel trilogy, seemingly replacing the old plan of a Prometheus trilogy.

Scott made the announcement at a press conference in Sydney, Australia this week, where pre-production on Alien: Covenant is now starting. But not only did the director of the first Alien movie disclose the new movie's title, he confirmed that while his upcoming trilogy will pick up after the events of Prometheus, it will also directly lead up to the events of the 1979 original, answering many of the series' biggest questions.

That's right Alien fans, we're finally going to find out the truth about the iconic "space jockey."

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to pick up Scott's explanation, and it really is best left in his own words:

Prometheus was borne out of my frustration that on Alien in 1979 — I only did one as I don't normally do sequels. I was amazed that in the three that followed that no-one asked the question 'why the alien, who made it and why?' Very basic questions. So I came up with the notion of Prometheus, which starts to indicate who might have made it and where it came from.

So I'm now going to the next one, which is the next evolution directly connected with the first one... and we'll kind of pick it up there and it will evolve. When that's finished there'll be another one and then another one which will gradually drive into the back entrance of the film in 1979.

So in other words, why was this space jockey there and why did he have an alien inside him? And those questions will be answered.

Along with this exciting news, Scott offered a few details of what Alien: Covenant will be about. "It's a very complex story. It's an evolution of what I first did with Prometheus," the director said, before explaining that it will focus on the colony ship Covenant and its crew, who find what seems like an uncharted paradise. It turns out to be a very dangerous world, with the only inhabitant being Michael Fassbender's David, the survivor from the Prometheus expedition.

If all this weren't enough, Scott, who is normally averse to sequels, said he is also co-writing and producing the upcoming Blade Runner 2 movie. In case anyone is wondering why the director is diving into sequels all of a sudden, it seems a huge upcoming sci-fi trilogy is influencing him. "Star Wars will be a juggernaut. Why do you think I'm doing sequels?"

SOURCE The Hollywood Reporter