Last week, rumor broke that James Franco (127 Hours, Spring Breakers) has a small role in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant. Now, Franco himself has confirmed the news – though probably unintentionally.
While speaking to HeyUGuys! to promote his latest film, Why Him, the Academy Award nominee was questioned about the upcoming Prometheus sequel. When asked if he indeed had a role, he said: “The news is out? I don’t know if he’s trying to trick me into talking about it…”
He then talked about what the Alien franchise meant to him growing up, but admitted that he couldn’t talk much about the role. You can listen to the whole interview here. What we do know, from the initial report, is that his role is a small one. He’ll likely only appear in the first 10 minutes and then sporadically throughout, and is rumored to play Branson, the captain of the Covenant and husband of Katherine Waterston’s character, Daniels.
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 is set for release on May 19th, 2017 and is penned by Michael Green, Jack Paglen and John Logan. Franco and Waterston will be joined by Prometheus stars Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace, alongside new cast additions Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down), Demian Bichir (A Better Life), Billy Crudup (Watchmen), Jussie Smollett (Empire), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color), Benjamin Rigby (That’s Not Me) and Callie Hernandez (Machete Kills).
Originally published December 20, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
