Ridley Scott used to be the poster child for never doing sequels, but after bending that rule with Prometheus and breaking it by co-writing and producing the upcoming Blade Runner 2, it seems the legendary director is now determined to make as many Alien films as possible. Alien: Covenant will not, as previously announced, be the second film in a prequel trilogy that started with Prometheus; it will in fact be the beginning of its own trilogy.

"Prometheus was borne out of my frustration that on Alien in 1979 — I only did one as I don't normally do sequels," Scott said at a press conference in Sydney, in comments picked up on by The Hollywood Reporter. "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."

"Why was this space jockey there and why did he have an Alien inside him?"

"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," Scott continued.

Just so you're keeping track, this is a director who doesn't "normally do sequels" planning a total of four films to correct perceived mistakes made by the directors who did do sequels to one of his own films. Scott had hinted at this before, and now it seems he's getting his way after the prior announcement of a mere two Prometheus sequels. It also means that District 9 director Neill Blomkamp's on-hold Alien movie is likely further off than ever.

As for Alien: Covenant itself, Scott calls it a "very complex story" that Prometheus star Noomi Rapace will only make a brief appearance in, although Michael Fassbender is set to return in a leading role. Shooting is set to start in Australia from May, and despite the mixed reaction to Prometheus, the new trilogy may at least land in a cinema climate with a new-found bug for sci-fi. "Star Wars will be a juggernaut," Scott "quipped," as THR tells it. "Why do you think I'm doing sequels?"