"Alien: Covenant" is now the official name of the sequel to 2016's "Prometheus," according to Ridley Scott in an interview at the American Film Institute (AFI) Festival.
On top of that, Scott also let the news slip early in an interview with Indiewire, sparking up the now-confirmed speculations.
"I was going to be doing what will be called 'Alien: Covenant,' which starts shooting next February, and we were struggling then with the screenplay . . ." he says.
Over the years since its development, it has had a couple of names, starting from "Prometheus 2" and then "Alien: Paradise Lost" to finally "Alien: Covenant." Aside from Scott's word (and slip up), the news has been confirmed to be official when 20th Century Fox announced it with a fixed release date to boot.
Ridley Scott returns to direct Alien: Covenant, the next installment in the #Alien franchise. In theaters 10/6/17. pic.twitter.com/GGp1axmfTs
— 20th Century Fox (@20thcenturyfox) November 16, 2015
The studio even chipped in the upcoming film's synopsis, which has a little confusing element about it.
"Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in 'Alien' with 'Alien: Covenant,' the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with 'Prometheus' - and connects directly to Scott's 1979 seminal work of science fiction," as part of the synopsis reads.
It continues to elaborate that it'll be about the team of explorers of the ship Covenant, discovering what seems to be an uncharted paradise when, in fact, it's a dangerous planet that's solely inhabited by the synthetic David played by Michael Fassbender, who survived the Prometheus expedition.
Based on the new name, synopsis and 20th Century Fox's tweet (which referred to the new film as part of the "Alien" franchise), the "Alien: Covenant" movie is definitely connected to the original "Alien" film in 1979.
"Alien: Covenant" will be arriving on the big screens on Oct. 6, 2017, and with an energized Scott at the helm and "The Martian" completed, it's probably A-OK to hope for the "Alien" continuation we all want to see.
