And just like Star Wars, fans will get a brand new Alien trilogy!

Hopefully you’re keeping up with the news rush surrounding Ridley Scott’s return to the Alien franchise.

It was announced that Scott begins filming Alien: Covenant next March for release on October 6, 2017. The newly titled Prometheus sequel is not only a followup to his Alien prequel, but is also now confirmed (below) to be the first in a brand new trilogy. This makes Prometheus a one-shot story that’s the basis of events that will begin in Alien: Covenant, which is said to follow a new crew on a new mission.

The plan, as I’ve written more than a handful of times, is to build on the mythology that would eventually bridge directly into Scott’s 1979 Alien.

This new obsession with Alien sequels stems from Scott’s frustration over the franchise sequels, and how the filmmakers never asked “why?”

Via THR: ” ‘Alien: Covenant’ and the following two films will be origin stories, answering the “very basic questions posed in ‘Alien’: why the alien, who might have made it and where did it come from?” Scott revealed at a press conference in Sydney where he is starting pre-production on Covenant, the first sequel to ‘Prometheus.’

“Its a very complex story. Its an evolution of what I first did with ‘Prometheus 1,’ ” he said of the new film, which tells the story of the crew of the colony ship Covenant, who discover 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.

“’Prometheus 1′ was borne out of my frustration that on ‘Alien 1’ in 1979 – I only did one as I don’t normally do sequels. I was amazed that in the 3 that followed that no-one asked the question “why the ‘Alien,’ who made it and why?” Very basic questions. So I came up with the notion of ‘Prometheus 1,’ which starts to indicate who might have made it and where it came from,” Scott said.

“So I’m now going to the next one, which is the next evolution directly connected with the first one, which was this Shaw, when he replaced Michael Fassbender in two pieces and we’ll kind of pick it up there and it will evolve. When that’s finished there’ll be another one and then another one which will gradually drive into the back entrance of the film in 1979,” the British director revealed.

“So in other words, why was this space jockey there and why did he have an Alien inside him? And those questions will be answered,” he added.

While Scott spews a monologue out about how he was frustrated with the Alien sequels, the real reason we’re getting a brand new trilogy is because of, get this, Star Wars.

“Star Wars will be a juggernaut. Why do you think I’m doing sequels,” Scott quipped.

Yes, Star Wars is going to be a juggernaut, and so will Alien. It’s sort of ironic that – from what I’ve been told – Fox and Scott were a little angry when Damon Lindelof rewrote Prometheus and removed the bridge directly tying it to Alien, and then abandoned them to figure out a sequel on their own. Now, because of the new ending, Scott and Fox are able to expand the franchise for another decade. I’m actually a huge fan of Prometheus, and think the original ending would have been received with open arms in the film community. Still, I’d trade that perfect circle for a new Alien trilogy any day. And if the only catastrophe is Neill Blomkamp’s fan-service Alien 5, well, I’m okay with that!

What say you?

PROMETHEUS | via Fox and WETA