AceShowbiz -

It appears that "Alien: Covenant" will feature an unexpected cameo appearance from James Franco. The folks over at AvP Galaxy have revealed the big news that the Oscar nominee has been added to the cast in a pivotal role.

Franco is said to take the role of Branson, the captain of the titular spaceship who is also the husband of Katherine Waterston's Daniels. But according to the site, he won't get a lot of screen time as he will only appear in the first ten minutes or so of the movie and some other small appearances.

Franco will reunite with Danny McBride in "Alien: Covenant". The two worked on several movies like "The Sound and the Fury" and Seth Rogen's R-rated animated comedy movie "Sausage Party", in which they provided the voices of Druggie and honey mustard respectively.

Directed by Ridley Scott, "Alien: Covenant" is coming to U.S. theaters on May 19, 2017. Michael Fassbender will return as android David, while Noomi Rapace is set to reprise her role as Elizabeth Shaw. Demian Bichir, Billy Crudup, Jussie Smollett and Carmen Ejogo are also among the cast members.

Set ten years after the event of "Prometheus", the upcoming movie follows a colony ship bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy. 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.