With Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant arriving on the big screen next year, it looks as if the cat is now finally out of the bag where James Franco’s casting is concerned.

Earlier this month saw rumours surface that suggested Franco had a role in Scott’s Prometheus follow-up, and now the actor has seemingly confirmed the news to Hey U Guys. In an interview for Why Him?, Franco, who was promoting the movie alongside Bryan Cranston, was asked his thoughts on being part of the Alien franchise. Acting a little surprised, he responded, “The news is out, I guess?” before continuing to discuss his love of the series, and in particular his memories of Scott’s iconic Alien.

In addition to this, the guys over at Alien-Covenant.com are reporting that Franco’s role in Covenant will be that of the Captain of the titular vessel. The outlet reports, though, that his screen time will be “very, very limited” and that he’ll have a connection to Katherine Waterson’s character, Daniels.

Set as the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with Prometheus, Alien: Covenant connects directly to Ridley Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. It begins with the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy. There, the crew discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world – whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

As well as James Franco and Katherine Waterston, Covenant will also feature Michael Fassbender, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Demian Bichir, Jussie Smolett, Amy Seimetz, Carmen Ejogo, Callie Hernandez and Noomi Rapace.

Alien: Covenant is set for a May 19th, 2017 release.