After leaving the franchise in other creative hands for over three decades, Ridley Scott returned to the world of Alien in 2012 with a prequel trajectory beginning with Prometheus and driving it closer to the original story with 2017’s Alien: Covenant, both of which received diminishing receptions from fans. Despite this, however, Scott is reportedly still eying another prequel film, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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In an interview with the California-based newspaper, Scott revealed that he is still considering possible paths for how to continue his exploration of the past events leading up to his 1979 classic, believing there to be “a lot of mileage” still in the franchise, but that it now need to “re-evolve.”
“What I always thought when I was making it, the first one, why would a creature like this be made and why was it traveling in what I always thought was a kind of war-craft, which was carrying a cargo of these eggs,” Scott said. “What was the purpose of the vehicle and what was the purpose of the eggs? That’s the thing to question — who, why and for what purpose in the next idea, I think.”
Though this doesn’t necessarily contradict his previous discussions of a sequel to Covenant, which he has said would have continued the exploration of the dangers of artificial intelligence and could bridge the gap between the original film and prequel series, it does appear that he may be hinting at changing up his outline a bit for the future.
As it stands, rumors of a potential TV series based on the Alien franchise might signal a change in the 40-year-old property. It’s also possible that R-rated series like Alien or Predator may not have a place in the new Disney-led Fox, especially after recent entries have disappointed financially and critically compared to the past.
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Ridley Scott returned to the universe he created with Alien: Covenant, the latest chapter in his groundbreaking Alien franchise. The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.
Alien: Covenant stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, and James Franco.
John Logan (Spectre) and Dante Harper provided the Alien: Covenant screenplay. Alien: Covenant brought in over $240 million at the global box office, a disappointing sum compared to the $400 million generated by Prometheus.
