Alien: Covenant's Big Katherine Waterston Rumor Revealed

Alien: Covenant, the upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott's 2012 Alien prequel Prometheus, might bring filmgoers far closer to the events of the original Alien than we initially suspected. Michael Fassbender is confirmed to return as David the android, but we're still unsure of who most of the Covenant cast—including Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Demian Bichir, Jussie Smollett, and Danny McBride—will play. We do, however, have a major spoiler as to the identity one of the cast members, and it's going to knock your socks off.

The Playlist originally posted the information, but had to take it down. Luckily, Slashfilm preserved a copy of what the original report:

Sources close to film and actress tell us the Waterston will be playing Ellen Ripley's mother in "Alien: Covenant," which is an amazing twist and true to Ridley Scott's promise that the post-"Prometheus" prequels will eventually lead right up to the first "Alien" movie. It should be noted however that Waterston isn't the lead of the movie, and it's an ensemble piece like "Prometheus."

There you have it, folks! Waterston is playing the mother of Ellen Ripley, the central character played by Sigourney Weaver in the original trilogy. From a storyline perspective, it's a little too much of a coincidence that Ripley's mom ends up on this a Alien adventure just like her daughter years later—we always thought Ripley was just a regular flight officer cursed with a whole lot of bad luck—but we'll take it. It might also be worth noting that Amanda Ripley goes in search of her mother Ellen in the video game Alien: Isolation. If considered canon, this would mean that the Xenomorphs hunted the Ripleys for three generations.

Unfortunately, Noomi Rapace, who played the surviving protagonist of Prometheus, will not be returning this time around, but at least legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott is back as director and producer. Alien: Covenant is scheduled to hatch on August 4, 2017.