It appears Sir Ridley Scott is almost as deadset on making more “Alien” films as James Cameron is in his “Avatar” sequels. No matter how negative or lukewarm the response to the prequel/reboot “Prometheus” and its sequel, “Alien: Covenant,” Scott is reportedly still developing a new film in the franchise, but it looks like it will be different from what fans would expect.
While out promoting his HBO Max series “Raised by Wolves,” Scott talked to Forbes about returning to the “Alien” franchise and confirmed another film is still in the works. “That’s in process. We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Covenant,'” he said. “Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful because ‘Prometheus’ woke it up very well. But you know, you’re asking fundamental questions like, ‘Has the Alien himself, the facehugger, the chestburster, have they all run out of steam? Do you have to rethink the whole bloody thing and simply use the word to franchise?’ That’s always the fundamental question.”
This aligns with comments Scott made earlier this summer, where he hinted that he still thought “there’s a lot of mileage in ‘Alien,'” but that for the franchise to move forward, it’d “have to now re-evolve.” Though the reboot/prequel films weren’t as well-received as “Alien” or “Aliens” they still presented some interesting and novel ideas.
Since 2015, Scott had hinted at a trilogy of films leading into the first “Alien,” with the sequel to “Covenant” focusing more on the androids than the xenomorphs. In 2018 details of the sequel, titled “Alien: Awakening” came to light, with reports that the film would pick up right after “Covenant,” bring back the Engineers, and bring us to the actual alien birthplace of LV-426.
It would be interesting to see how a potential new “Alien” film would differ from previously reported plotlines, if it ever goes into production at all now that it’s under the Disney umbrella.