Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston are currently the only actors confirmed to be in the cast of Ridley Scott‘s next Alien movie Alien: Covenant, the follow-up to Prometheus.

The film is still rounding out the cast, but the latest news may prove to be a surprising one. According to new reports, Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down, This Is The End) is in talks to join the cast. More on the story below.

The Wrap says that McBride hasn’t been officially confirmed for the role as of yet, as talks are still being held. However, the report says that he and Scott have had many conversations, and have connected through their love of “discussing old movies.” McBride has proven himself to be more than a funny guy in years past. He has shown his versatility in a couple of dramas like All the Real Girls and As I Lay Dying, but if he manages to land his role in Alien: Covenant, it will be his biggest one yet. It’s not clear what kind of role McBride is up for.

Alien: Covenant will link Prometheus with the original Alien films, and act as the beginning of a new trilogy. Prometheus ended with Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David (Fassbender) taking an alien ship to find the Engineers and try to understand why they want to destroy humanity. However, Rapace is not expected to return, and the film’s synopsis says that David is the “sole inhabitant” of the alien planet that the spaceship Covenant is exploring. So hopefully Covenant will answer what happened to Shaw.

There were talks about continuing the story of the original Alien films, with one of the films set to be directed by Neill Blomkamp. But it appears those plans have fallen through, and Fox will let Ridley Scott tell those stories. Apparently, he has a lot of them.

Here’s the official plot 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.

Alien: Covenant shoots this spring for release on October 6, 2017 from 20th Century Fox.

[Source: The Wrap]