We now know when Alien: Covenant will take place, and it puts the movie one step closer to the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien.

Costume designer Janty Yates was busy making the rounds promoting the Blu-ray/DVD release of director Ridley Scott’s critically acclaimed sci-fi movie, The Martian, when she sat with Collider and had a chat about Alien: Covenant. This is when the Oscar winner dropped an interesting tidbit.

According to Yates, the Prometheus sequel/Alien prequel is actually set “10 years in the future beyond Prometheus.”

As Comicbook.com points out, Prometheus' timeline puts the events of the movie in the last week of 2093, meaning it took place 28 years before the original 1979 sci-fi/horror film starring Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. With the 10-year time jump, we’ll now be 18 years away from the events of Alien.

Now, let us chew on that for one sec. Could said 10-year time jump be the reason why Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw will only have a brief appearance in the new Alien movie? You betcha. But whereas Rapace will only have a small role in the first of 3 new Alien prequels, actor Michael Fassbender will return as the synth David — whom we last saw pretty much body less — as he and Shaw were making a bee-line for the Engineer’s homeworld, flying away in an alien spacecraft.

Here is an official synopsis for Alien: Covenant:

Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world — whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

As for new cast members, it was recently announced Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) has been cast to star as a lead character named Daniels. Waterston’s character will supposedly be a crew member of the colony ship Covenant, which comes across the mystery planet and David. Will she be the new Shaw/Ripley?

What do you think of the 10-year time jump for Alien: Covenant? The movie is set to be released on Oct. 6, 2017.

(Collider via Comic Book)