We’ve got some bad news for you about the new ‘Alien’ movies
Alien is back. Ridley Scott confirmed that he will direct the next film in the science fiction franchise, but he won’t be utilizing characters from the past two sequels. Scott told Movie Web the next installment will “reinvent the wheel” in terms of theme and relevance to the larger Alien timeline.
Scott’s announcement comes as bad news to some fans and good news to others. The first Alien prequel, Prometheus, was released to a divided audience in 2012, but its reputation has improved, and the film has developed a cult following in the years since. Alien: Covenant followed the surviving characters of Prometheus in 2017, and while it earned positive reviews from critics, it under performed at the box office.
Given the divisive response to the first two-thirds of Scott’s prequel trilogy, it makes sense that he’s looking to change his approach. “We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with Prometheus and Covenant,” he explained. “Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful because Prometheus woke it up very well.”
Evolving the franchise
Scott’s new changes mark the latest in a series of revisions made to the prequel trilogy. He originally planned to release a sequel to Prometheus called Paradise Lost, but the negative response to the first film led to him retooling it as Alien: Covenant. Many of the subplots and characters from Prometheus were dropped or relegated to deleted scenes as a result.
“I still think there’s a lot of mileage in Alien, but I think you’ll have to now re-evolve,” the director told The Los Angeles Times. “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. What was the purpose of the vehicle and what was the purpose of the eggs? That’s the thing to question: for what purpose is the next idea?”
Scott told Little White Lies he was working on a script for the third film as early as 2018, and he intended to start production during the first half of 2019. Scott’s decision to helm the drama All the Money in the World delayed pre-production on the film, however, and he’s still waiting on a green light from 20th Century Fox.
Production setbacks
The working title for the next film is Alien: Awakening, and Scott claimed it will link the prequel trilogy to the events of the 1979 original. He told Cinema Blend he considered bringing Sigourney Weaver back to reprise her iconic character Ripley; albeit with CGI technology to make her look younger.
“We’re heading toward the back end of the first Alien so [using CG] may be feasible. Ripley’s going to be somebody’s daughter, obviously,” Scott revealed. “We’re coming in from the back end. The time constraints of what’s the time between this film, where we leave David going off heading for that colony, I think you’re probably two films out from even considering her.”
As we previously mentioned, however, Scott is prone to changing his mind, so these details should be taken with a grain of salt. Weaver recently talked to Empire about the possibility of returning to Alien and she admitted to being “unenthused” by the idea. “I don’t know, Ridley has gone in a different direction,” she reasoned. “Maybe Ripley has done her bit – she deserves a rest.”
Condolence film
While Scott’s “new” direction may upset fans who have passionately kept up with the franchise, they can take solace in the fact a more familiar Alien film may be in the works. Franchise producer Walter Hill has penned an eighty-page treatment for a fifth Alien movie, which would retcon the events of the poorly-received sequels Alien 3 (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997).
Neill Blomkamp was slated to direct Alien 5 back in 2015, but the film was shelved when Scott announced his plans to make another prequel. Blomkamp and Hill have continued to work on the script, however, and James Cameron recently hinted at the possibility he would get the film back on track. Cameron told IGN he was “actively working” with Blomkamp to give Aliens (1986) the sequel it deserved.
Ry
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Wheres the bad news? The director who created the Alien franchise will continue his masterpiece that he started with the first movie. Pop the champagne!
The only ppl that did not like his Alien movies were pseudo fans that wanted everything to be derivative garbage like every Disney Star Wars movie ever.
October 30, 2020Eric
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I agree with RY, I don’t see any bad news here. Now that some time has passed people seem to be accepting Prometheus and Covenant quite a lot more. Personally I quite enjoyed the films (albeit a few issues here and there).
November 5, 2020Lucas
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I agree with Ry and Eric no bad news here. I too liked the movies but I thought they could be better. I liked the characters but I was left wondering why the disease that David later turned into the Xenomorphs was even created but since the engineers that created the disease were ended at the hands of David we may never know.
March 15, 2021Steve Smith
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Both films left a bad taste in my mouth, but especially Covenant.
November 9, 2020Dreg
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Can’t wait-awesome news….Michael is cool!?:)
November 9, 2020Bruce Hanks
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For the love of God….please finish the sequels: and connect them to the original Alien! Hell, we’ve only waited 40 years for this!!! Please quit messing around and get this done!
November 10, 2020Tyresa Lang
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I’m so stoked for another movie! I am a huge fan and even love the prequels! Let’s get on the ball guys I’m excited!!😁
November 11, 2020Nigel
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I personally did not like the Covenant, I actually could not follow it well.
Prometheus was hit and miss, but ultimately it was the game changer that explains everything well, from Ash with a mission of his own, etc.. and how such an Alien could have been created and then take on a different form post coming out of the pods as Face Huggers.
Please do connect them together that would help a lot.
Just don’t make it comical and weird like Alien Erection (Resurrection). I am not sure why people gave it that pen name?
November 13, 2020Angrier
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I’d like to see much more about those engineers how they live how they are with each other, be cool showing flash backs of them looking over earth watching humans in war with each other so they decide to make another species, it would be interesting to see there reaction finding out the second species they created after humans were wiped out by david. The predators would be interesting if there history with the engineers would be shown maybe the engineers had the intention of creating those aliens to destroy the predators home planets i don’t know those engineers are under rated and need explored, great films.
December 17, 2020Scott
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I think the way that making films more into Netflix/Disney+/Apple long series is the way to go for the Alien franchise. You could do so much with it and there are so many talented writers with a passion for the franchise that could help.
January 2, 2021Dabrigadier
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Prometheus was the best alien movie ever. It explored what all human want to know and that’s where we come from. I want him to continue that theme. It seems to be based somewhat on the Sumerian text about the Annunaki. Either way it’s the best movie he has ever done because he tried something new and now it has an enormous cult following.
January 25, 2021Alienbestever
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Agree with Danrigadier, Prometheus was my fav. High budget, great acting, decent plot. I think killing off Noomi Rapace was the dumbest move ever in Covenant. She’s not only a great actress but brought depth of character not seen in previous Alien movies.
February 28, 2021Rickinator
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After having just rewatching Prometheus and Covenant for the first time, I am confident that the series is in Ridley Scott’s hands. Prometheus dealt with origins and despite his original wish was for a second chapter, I feel that he did well with the continuation in Covenant. I felt that Prometheus could have been a stronger, i.e. darker movie and I favor Covenant out of the two, but again, I am confident in Ridley Scott and his more than capable hands.
February 28, 2021Fred
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Prometheus Is Great And I Literally Just Saw Covenant For The Second Time And It’s Actually Pretty Good! I’m Confident The 3rd Film Will Be Great Especially If It Connects To 79’ Alien Film
March 15, 2021will
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Alien is one of the best movie series, and it is gonna be brilliant when it releases. Also, Why is it being bought by Disney? It’s gonna go to Disney + and Will lose its scary Tone and atmosphere, And also silly stupid kids will watch it and complain to Disney about it. I honestly would say don’t accept The Disney collab because More people will hate on it. Just make ridley scott direct it and its gonna be Way better than Alien covenant(Incredible movie)
March 26, 2021Sarah
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No one is collaborating with Disney. Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, who owns the Alien franchise. The franchise may, therfore, end up on Disney streaming services in some countries, but it is not likely to end up on Disney+ as Disney likes to maintain a squeaky clean “family friendly” image stateside.
May 4, 2021Frank
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i agree Prometheus was great !!! It was high budget had cool special effects and came close to explaining where the creators came from. I look forward to the new movies. You can link it with the original movie and it still won’t kill off the fun that can be had with this franchise. Make more, make more !!!
April 18, 2021gman
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I’m sorry, but not only was prometheus was great, exploring david’s evil intentions but Covenant was great also – had that cameron aliens vibe to it. Loved it loved it. I would love to see a third where david takes the coli nests to lv and ties it up.. it’s the only logical way to go.
April 28, 2021Switcher Monkey
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Ridley Scott is the George R. R. Martin of film.
I’ll take a 3rd prequel, a 4th sequel, a TV show, whatever. Just give me more Alien. I think I read somewhere that a TV show has been greenlit.
April 30, 2021TC
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Both movies were awful and destroyed the franchise. The actors got more stupid at every turn and these movies had no continuity with the original great Alien movies. However, no matter how much garbage Hollywood makes, some one will like it as proved by this page.
May 24, 2021JMV
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“The first Alien prequel, Prometheus, was released to a divided audience in 2012, but its reputation has improved, and the film has developed a cult following in the years since.” ….Sure, it was a flop and stills being a flop.
August 5, 2021Nate
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Alien, Aliens, Alien 3. It should have ended there. The last may have not given everyone what they’d hoped to get, but it did wrap up the series in a satisfying and sensible way. Everything that has come after has only been self-serving retcons that can only posture at creativity, while parasitizing the identity of the source material, demonstrating a bottomless appetite to smear, disgrace and insult the glory of a series that was once quite something. Let it end, and then let us pretend these creative teams spent the last 30 years pursuing constructive efforts far, far removed from the creation and vison of Shusett, O’Bannon, Scott, Giger, Giler, Hill, Cameron, Ferguson and Fincher.
August 19, 2021Michael Little
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Prometheus was soooo good the concept was fantasic and i feel covenant should of been about shaw and david meeting our old civilisation instead of just a flashback of david wiping them out we should of got more interaction with the engineers like we did in prometheus but actually get answers this time this 3rd film better answer everything about what the engineers did and why they created humans on earth
September 30, 2021David
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The only people who hate the prequels are the one’s too stupid to understand their concept.
November 12, 2021CrackJack
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#RidleyScottLovesMillenials
I don’t want this ego maniac any where near any future alien movies.
Both Prometheus and Covenant sucked ass!
The only people that liked it were the younger generation who will watched any thing!
ANY movie grows on you the more you watch it!!!
You see the casting in Covenant? WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK!
I have watched Alien 1-3, Resurrection, Prometheus and Covenant, more than 200 times total!
AND
I have literally watched thousands of films, I’m also both a writer and an artist.
Ridley Scott is great no more!
February 20, 2022Out of touch!
CJ
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I ain’t writing more than this.
Never do anything you’re good at, for free.
There was so much wrong with both Prometheus and Covenant.
And no one ever notices til someone points it out.
I’ll say again, Ridley Scott is out of touch.
February 20, 2022It happens to us all when you’re at the top of game for a while. Maybe sycophants too.