The wait to see Ridley Scott's return to the Alien universe won't be quite as long as anticipated, with 20th Century Fox recently bumping Alien: Covenant up a bit in their release schedule.

According to BoxOffice.comAlien: Covenant is now scheduled for an August 4th, 2017 theatrical release, moving up from its planned October 6th, 2017 debut.

A follow-up to 2012's Prometheus and the second of three planned prequel film to 1979's Alien, filming on Alien: Covenant is expected to begin in March in Australia.

The recently expanded cast for Alien: Covenant includes Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Demián Bichir (The Bridge), Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Amy Seimetz (The Sacrament, You’re Next, A Horrible Way to Die), Jussie Smollett (Empire), Carmen Ejogo (The Purge: Anarchy), and Callie Hernandez (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, Machete Kills). Billy Crudup (Spotlight) is also in talks to play a pivotal part.

Fassbender will reprise his role as the synthetic David from Prometheus, while Noomi Rapace has not been announced to return as Elizabeth Shaw. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more updates.

Alien: Covenant synopsis: “Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in ALIEN with ALIEN: COVENANT, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with PROMETHEUS — and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. 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.”

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.