Alien: Covenant Reportedly Gets Surprise Cast Member

Contains spoilers for Alien: Covenant

The first 10 minutes of Alien: Covenant will feature a surprising appearance, and we aren't talking about Xenomorphs.

According to the reliable fan site AvP Galaxy, James Franco has a role in the Alien prequel, despite being absent from any announcements or marketing so far. He'll reportedly play Branson, captain of the Covenant ship and husband of Katherine Waterston's character. It was initially believed that Waterston would play the captain of the ship, but it's possible that her character only takes the position after her husband leaves it. It's still up in the air whether he goes missing, abandons the crew, or, you know, dies.

But AvP Galaxy says that Franco's role is a small one, and he shows up mostly at the beginning of the film with "later small appearances."

The site also posted a series of photos, revealing that there might be some female Engineers around. And one photo features a small Xenomorph that's reportedly a failed experiment of Michael Fassbender's David, which he displays inside the temple he's taken over on a mysterious planet.

The release date of Alien: Covenant was recently moved up to May 19, 2017, so we should expect a trailer sometime in the near future. Meanwhile, here are a few things that could ruin the movie.