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.

Some major news on Ridley Scott‘s much-discussed Alien prequel has come down the pipe — news that should fetch some interesting reaction from fans who may or may not have been looking forward to another adventure in that world.

After all the things we’ve been hearing about an Alien prequel, from Sigourney Weaver first talking about a fifth movie back in ’08 to first hints that Scott might actually do it. Then the confirmation that the movie was happening with a new director instead of Scott to Scott choosing to do it himself, and that it would be a two-part prequel. Finally, we found out that LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof was re-writing the script, and that Ridley was possibly going to present a storyline that showed the alien creatures from his classic 1979 horror were actually genetically engineered as weapons.

After ALL of that, it sounds like Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel might not be a prequel at all, and that the story they’ve created has evolved into something completely unique. Something called Prometheus.