Alien: Covenant Sequel Will Bring Back The Engineers

06/21/2017 04:55 pm EDT

Despite a middling box office reception and some poor responses from critics, plans for the next movie in the Alien franchise are under way.

The latest film from director Ridley Scott might not have been the box office success that Fox executives wanted, but the plan to follow up Alien: Covenant with another prequel/sequel hybrid seems to be on the calendar. And now the director has given some major plot hints for the direction of his followup.

MORE 'ALIEN': Chinese Censors Cut [SPOILER] Kiss From 'Alien: Covenant'

Speaking with Chinese film news site mtime.com, Scott revealed, "there will be three or four different players coming into investigate."

"One of which will be the Engineers arriving back to find their planet decimated," Scott said.

Viewers learned in Alien: Covenant that David the android (played by Michael Fassbender) bombed the Engineers civilization with the weaponized black goo he found in Prometheus. While it seemed like the cradle of their civilization was destroyed, keep in mind they had other installations throughout the galaxy where they maintained a presence, such as the planet discovered in Prometheus.

UP NEXT: New Novel Bridges Gap Between 'Prometheus' And 'Alien: Covenant'

"I think those ships come and go on regular intervals," Scott began. "I see them as the gardeners of space."

He then began talking about taking inspiration from the artificial intelligence Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

"If you got a very expensive vehicle, going in space, and everyone's asleep, you gotta have a bloody good housekeeper who'll never go to sleep," Scott said. "That's a computer, dude. And so I thought Hal was a genius notion."

MORE NEWS: 'Alien: Covenant' Originally Featured Xenomorph Vs. Neomorph Battle

"Where we go next is obvious," Scott hinted before declaring that he wouldn't give away the plot.

There's no word on when the next Alien movie might begin production, though previous hints indicated it could start next year.

Alien: Covenant is now in theaters.

SYNOPSIS: The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.