Alien: Covenant start of new trilogy and ties into original Alien

Sir Ridley Scott, acclaimed director of Alien and now Alien: Covenant, has revealed his latest instalment will spawn a new trilogy that'll lead into the original 1979 movie.

Speaking about what'll happen in the franchise after Alien: Covenant, Scott said: "When that’s [Alien: Covenant] finished there’ll be another one and then another one which will gradually drive into the back entrance of the film in 1979." Does this new trilogy mean 2012's Prometheus is a sort of stand alone film, or will it simply form a quadrilogy of prequels set prior to Alien?

Scott said the new movies will answer "very basic questions posed in Alien: why the alien, who might have made it and where did it come from?" During his Sydney press conference, the director revealed how the story in Covenant is about a crew who believe they've discovered an uncharted paradise, but in fact it's a place inhabited by Michael Fassbender's David - one of two survivors from Prometheus.

Scott admitted he was amazed no one asked these fundamental questions in any of the sequels, so now it's his opportunity to finish the job he started. Fans will be desperate to find out who the engineers are and indeed who created them, but also why they created humanity - what is their purpose? It's all rather life-affirming stuff, so let's hope we get at least some answers to the origins of this fascinating world.

Mike scribbles at MTV, Yahoo Movies, BuzzFeed, GoThinkBig and Live for Films. As a huge animation and sci-fi fan, his favourite movies include Spirited Away and District 9.