MOVIE NEWS – Michael Fassbender told journalists that Alien: Covenant will feature some iconic moments from the Alien franchise as the shooting carries on in Australia.

After the release of Prometheus in 2012, many fans speculated if the sequel would be connected more to the original Alien franchise, which started in 1979 with director Ridley Scott’s timeless classic. In the years that followed, we eventually learned that Prometheus 2 would be re-titled Alien: Covenant, which would start a new prequel trilogy that will bridge the gap in the events between Prometheus and the original Alien. Michael Fassbender will be the only original Prometheus star returning, reprising his role as the android David, revealing in a new interview that a classic moment from the original movie will be revisited in Alien: Covenant.

Back in December, it was told that some iconic Alien creatures like the Facehugger, the Chestburster, and the Xenomorph will appear in the sequel, but there haven’t been too many details announced about how these creatures will come into play in Alien: Covenant.

The scenario follows the crew of the colony ship Covenant (a name, which reminds you Halo, haha) who are bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy. They find what they think is an uncharted nirvana, but instead it is a dark, dangerous world — whose sole resident is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

“There are going to be great sets and aliens coming out of people. It’s amazing to watch Ridley work. I try to soak up as much knowledge as I can from him, because having worked on this kind of films a few times and having seen how many moving parts there are, how many people work on the set and how many departments need attention and the language, he’s an absolute master,” told Fassbender to Inquirer.

We learned late last year that the story was set a decade after the events of Prometheus. There have been reports that the other survivor from Prometheus, Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw is coming back, but now it seems that she will not be returning. Last month we got a brief glimpse at the Australian set in new photos, which Michael Fassbender claims are “fantastic.”

“The sets are amazing. Again, the most impressive sets I’ve seen since Prometheus, which was the original setting. It’s an excellent mixture of high-end technology and primitive elements. The way that I can explain it is the same way that Ridley did Blade Runner. You have this futuristic world where people are eating noodles because that seems to be the cheaper food and something that will fill you up. But it’s also something that harks back to the past. The weaving of those two things past and future together makes for an interesting world that we can aspire to, but also recognize something in it.”

Alien: Covenant also stars Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo and Callie Hernandez. Ridley Scott is directing from a script by Jack Paglen, Michael Green, and John Logan. We’ll be sure to keep you posted with more on Alien: Covenant as production continues. The movie has been slated for release on August 4, 2017, going up against Open Road Films’ Blazing Samurai.