Alien Covenant will be the first film in a new prequel trilogy

The director, who famously never made sequels until now, said the upcoming trilogy will explain how the Alien that burst out of actor John Hurt’s chest in the 1979 film’s most iconic scene came to be. The Prometheus sequel has been such a long time coming that it remains to be seen when these Alien: Covenant follow-ups will happen, but it’s clear that Scott definitely has a plan in place for this trilogy anyway!

“I was amazed that in the three [films] that followed that no-one asked the question”, he said.

“So I’m now going to the next one, which is the next evolution directly connected with the first one. 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”, Scott continued.

The new film – previously referred to briefly as Alien: Paradise Lost – is expected to hire around 600 local cast and crew, and will spend AU$60m in Australia, with much of the expenditure earmarked for extensive visual effects work.

We will be, eventually, getting the answers as to why the space jockey was there in the original Alien film, and why he had an alien inside him.

“Alien: Covenant” will shoot at Sydney’s Fox Studios from March with Michael Fassbender to reprise his “Prometheus” role as the synthetic David.

“‘Star Wars’ will be a juggernaut”. That’s a risk you take with any movie, but since Prometheus was largely disappointing, I’m skeptical about Scott being able to deliver something great that satisfies longtime fans of his classic sci-fi horror film that has influenced so many filmmakers over the years. “Those questions will be answered”.

With Fassbender arriving in mid-March, the movie will start a 16-week shoot shooting shortly afterwards at Fox Studios and “outside” locations.

He also wanted Cate Blanchett to play the ship’s captain in The Martian but she was not available.

He revealed it will be made in Budapest, where he made The Martian, with Dennis Villeneuve directing from Scott’s script.