Director Ridley Scott has Alien fever. After spending decades away from the franchise that changed the science fiction landscape, he can’t seem to get away from it. In 2012, he dabbled back into the mythology with Prometheus, and with this year’s Alien: Covenant, he’s going full Alien on us. And we already know he plans to come back pretty darn soon for another follow-up.

But how many films does he have on his slate? Speaking with Fandango, Scott revealed slightly more solid numbers for the future of the franchise.

“If this is successful, and then the next one, and then there will definitely be three more.”

Additionally, Scott discussed the order of how the next film after Covenant would fit into the grand scheme with the prequels, and interestingly enough, it doesn’t sound like it will follow Alien: Covenant. Here’s what Scott had to say:

“There will be another one before we kind of literally and logically, clockwise, back into the rear back head of [the original] Alien. It will go Prometheus, Awakening, Covenant… fairly integral where this colonization ship is on the way….”

Okay, so there are three things to pick apart from this quote. First, it sounds like may have actually revealed the next film’s title, Alien: Awakening. Second, unless he was mistaken, it sounds like Awakening will actually be a prequel to Alien: Covenant.

If that’s the case, you have to wonder why he decided to go back in time again after this film. Perhaps it was something that developed along the way in the story-finding process, but it certainly seems rather counterintuitive to have audiences re-align the narrative in their heads. 

Finally, third, he said there would be one more film before looping back to the original Alien, and yet, when asked if that meant the next films would take place after the events in Alien, he denied it, essentially saying there have already been movies that have tackled that territory. If that’s the case, how can he possibly have four more films in the works, and only account for one of them in the timeline?

Of course, this is just further proof of the ever-malleable nature of filmmaking. Chances are he was speaking before he’d had real solid footing to stand on regarding the timeline or concepts. The same happened during the development of Alien: Covenant, and there have been countless interviews where Scott says one thing one day, and an opposite thing the next.

In short, don’t take his word as gospel just yet. Despite the fact that he is indeed the architect of this world, he’s figuring it out as he goes along as well. We’ll certainly enjoy the ride along the way.

Alien: Covenant hits theaters on May 19, 2017.

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SOURCE: Fandango