Ridley Scott has finally opened up with concrete details of how his forthcoming sci-fi Prometheus connects to his 1979 genre classic, Alien. The link has been a subject of great speculation during the build-up to the movie's summer release and a handy talking point for attracting press and fan attention. The project was originally conceived as a two-part prequel to the Alien series, but eventually transformed into a stand-alone story which Scott said only shared "strands of Alien's DNA".

If we're to believe the translation of the director's recent interview with a Hungarian movie site, those strands intertwine not in the conventional double-helix, but W and Y of the Weyland-Yutari logo. It seems Guy Pearce's cameo in the movie will have him playing Peter Weyland, the entrepreneurial owner of the eponymous ship. That nod is the only detail in common between the Prometheus and Alien universes, with Scott promising "a new film, a new world [...] full of new ideas. And of course new monsters as well."

[via JoBlo]