A new actor has been added to the cast of director Ridley Scott‘s upcoming return to science fiction, Prometheus.

The movie, as you’ll recall, was much-anticipated for a long while as being a prequel to Scott’s 1979 horror classic, Alien. It was only when the above title was announced that we discovered that the movie had grown out of its prequel status, and had evolved into a unique standalone film.

Joining the cast of Prometheus is Michael Fassbender, who’s quickly rising as top young star. Fassbender first caught a lot of eyes as the cocky and humorous member of Leonidas’s Spartans in 300, and has gone on to give memorable performances in Inglourious Basterds and Centurion. He’s currently working on Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class, where he’s playing the younger Magneto.

The interesting thing about this casting is that it’s being reported that Fassbender will in fact be playing an android in the movie. This of course will immediately latch itself to the fact that androids played a crucial role in the Alien franchise mythos, leading one to wonder if we still have a prequel fused deep within Prometheus.

Fassbender joins Noomi Rapace, the star of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels, who was already cast in the lead female role. The script is written by Lost writer/producer Damon Lindelof.

[Source: Heat Vision]