Ridley Scott provides 'Alien' sequel update

Back when Prometheus was released in 2012, director Ridley Scott immediately said that it would get at least one sequel.

That arrived in the shape of Alien: Covenant in 2017. But even before the release of the sci-fi blockbuster, Scott said that he wanted to follow-up Covenant with another instalment to the franchise.

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However, the poor box office performance of Covenant, which only made $240 million (£180 million) compared to Prometheus’ $403 million (£303 million), meant that this was soon thrown into doubt. Fox have always maintained their interest, though. Even after the studio was bought by Disney, the new owners of the Alien franchise said they wanted to “continue to create new stories”.

The last news on the Alien series came all the way back in May 2019, when it was teased that Scott was still attached to direct the film, which was in the “script phase”.

Scott has now provided an update on the next Alien film, telling Forbes that it is still “in process”.

“We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with Prometheus and Covenant. Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful because Prometheus woke it up very well.”

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“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.”

The 82-year-old director has a long history with the Alien franchise, having launched it with the 1979 original starring Sigourney Weaver. In the past, Scott has teased that he would want Weaver to return as Ripley. Back in July, Weaver said she had read a 50-page treatment for such a film from screenwriter and producer Walter Hill. Unfortunately, she found it unsatisfactory, though.