So there was this rumor. A HUGE rumor. Apparently, it’s not true. That said, if you want to be totally in the dark about EVERYTHING in regards to the movie, maybe avoid this article.

We don’t think these are spoilers. But hey, ya never know.

Back in June of last year, we reported on a rumor that seemed, at the time, to have been confirmed. That bombshell rumor was that new Alien: Covenant character Daniels, played by Katherine Waterston, is actually the mother of franchise heroine Ellen Ripley. Given that the film is another prequel to Alien, set years prior to that film, that makes total sense. Not to mention, Waterston’s Daniels, as many have pointed out, looks pretty damn similar to Ellen Ripley.

But at SXSW tonight, as reported by Movie Web, Ridley Scott seemed to have completely shot down the rumor. When asked if there was any link between Daniels & Ripley, Scott replied:

No. That was probably way back when. ‘Should she be the daughter of Ripley?’ I said ‘no.’ She’s herself.

Waterston was asked the same question, to which she humorously replied:

Who started that shit?

Now you may have noticed that Scott mentioned Daniels not being the daughter of Ellen Ripley, when the rumor was actually that she was the mother of Ellen Ripley. One could read into this that Scott was slyly trying to answer the question without, well, answering the actual question; but based on what both he and Waterston said, it seems pretty clear that Daniels is entirely her own character. Or perhaps they’re just trying to throw us all off the scent? It’s impossible to say at this moment. But for what it’s worth, we recently heard that the rumor is a crock of shit.

I suppose we won’t know for sure until May 19, 2017.

Waterston (Inherent Vice, Jobs, The Babysitters) stars with Michael Fassbender returning as Prometheus‘ android David (and Walter), with a crew that includes Demian Bichir and Danny McBride (“Eastbound and Down”), as well as Alex England (Gods of Egypt), Billy Crudup, Amy Seimetz (A Horrible Way to Die, “The Killing”), Jussie Smollett (“Empire”), Carmen Ejogo, and Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills). James Franco also has a role.

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

Ridley Scott had previously promised to answer questions that left Prometheus viewers confused: “Covenant is really going to show you who did it and why.”