AceShowbiz -

The sequel to "Prometheus" gets a new title. In a recent interview with The Playlist, director Ridley Scott revealed that the second installment of the sci-fi movie franchise would be called "Alien: Covenant".

While talking about his astronaut movie "The Martian" in the interview at the AFI Film Festival, Scott casually mentioned that the "Prometheus" sequel got a new title. He also slipped some details about the movie, saying that principal photography was slated to begin in February 2016.

"I was going to be doing what will be called 'Alien: Covenant', which starts shooting next February, and we were struggling then with the screenplay there and then there was a phone call, somebody saying, 'Listen, we've got this thing which is completely written called 'Martian,' and I said, 'Huh.' And I sped read it in an hour and by mid-afternoon, I talked to Fox and said, 'I need to talk to 'Drew [Goddard]...,' " Scott said.

In general, a covenant is an agreement between God and humanity. Some speculated that the new title indicated that the movie would center on the relationship between mankind and the Engineers.

Back in September, Scott announced that "Prometheus 2" would be called "Alien: Paradise Lost" because the movie would more directly tie into the "Alien" franchise. The director previously hinted that David (Michael Fassbender) and Elizabeth (Noomi Rapace) would not be alone in their adventure to track down the mysterious Engineers, because they would be joined by a new group of travelers. Official release date has yet to be announced, but the "Prometheus" sequel is expected to arrive in the U.S. in 2017.