When someone says they’re going to keep doing something until they die, they’re usually being figurative. But it would seem that Ridley Scott, now at age 79, fully intends on making the Alien franchise into his tomb. It’s impressive enough that he’s forged the most gore-heavy entry this deep into both the series and his own career, but Scott’s not losing his edge any time soon. In a new interview with Yahoo, Scott spoke about the future of the Alien movies, and you might wanna put on some shades, because the future’s looking real bright.

The director was optimistic but noncommittal when discussing any possible installments to come. He was willing to confirm that a sequel to Covenant was definitely in the works, saying, “I’ll probably be filming it within a year. It’ll be out within a year and nine months. It’s weird when you’re writing, doing, planning, thinking about franchises, it’s amazing how it opens up and starts to evolve.” But the increasingly complicated chronology of the series — made up of sequels, prequels, and now sequels to the prequels which are themselves also prequels — may or may not allow for more installments. Scott was slightly cagey when asked, saying, “I don’t know. [I’ll make] maybe two more [films], or maybe one more, I don’t know.” This comes after Scott said he was open to cranking out “another six” Alien films earlier this year.

So there you have it! There will definitely be another Alien movie — another-other one, less definite. Mostly, Scott’ll just keep on doing Scott. As if he could be expected to do anything else. Alien: Covenant hits theaters May 19.

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