At the London Film Festival premiere of “Cracks,” his daughter Jordan’s debut feature, director Ridley Scott spilled some beans to Empire about the forthcoming “Alien” prequel. He tells the site “It’s a brand new box of tricks. We know what the road map is, and the screenplay is now being put on paper. The prequel will be a while ago. It’s very difficult to put a year on “Alien,” but if “Alien” was towards the end of this century, then the prequel story will take place thirty years prior.”
Having always sworn off continuing the franchise, Scott claims that it’s the approach of going further back that’s hooked him: “I never thought I’d look forward to a sequel, but a prequel is kind of interesting. I’m looking forward to doing that.” The movie being set 30 years before the original would appear to rule out an appearance from Sigourney Weaver, although we’re sure there’ll be some cutesy reference, or glimpse of Ripley’s parents or something (hopefully not, don’t do it).
We think the prequel idea is fairly disastrous, to be honest. Say what you like about the lesser sequels “Alien 3” and “Alien Resurrection,” both of which are pretty bad, but at least they didn’t attempt to over-explain the xenomorph creatures at the center of the franchise.
The aliens are terrifying because they’re unknown, and unknowable. By delving into the past of the “Alien” universe, it definitely feels like we’ll learn more than we wanted to know. The first two are, respectively, exceptional horror and action movies, but is anyone that interested in the mythology of these films? Still, with Scott back on board, and writer Jon Spaihts, one of the better sci-fi scribes out there, behind the script, there’s a glimmer of hope.