Ridley Scott Shares Hints About Next “Alien” Film

Scott spoke about the films' themes and motifs

Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott in 2012.
Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons

Filmmaker Ridley Scott has had a long and storied career, with films encompassing everything from influential science fiction to textured historical epics. He’s made visually sumptuous commercials for Hennessy and is working on the historical drama The Last Duel — which is not, as far as we know, a sequel to his debut film as director, The Duellists.

Scott’s forays into science fiction have come up in discussion a lot lately, as he’s an executive producer of the new HBO Max series Raised by Wolves, and also directed the show’s first two episodes. As IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio reports, the dystopian setting of Scott’s current project prompted questions about one of his most influential films: Alien.

Scott has, after all, returned to the world of Alien twice in the last decade, for the prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Might he have another project in the works set in the same fictional universe?

IndieWire reports that Scott has confirmed in a recent interview that another film with ties to Alien is in the works. But Scott has also been more forward about what this film is not than about what it is. Namely, it sounds like he’s less interested in revisiting the prequels.

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

Whether or not that means that Scott’s return to this universe might be set much later in its timeline is unclear. But his clues do suggest a shift in perspective for whatever comes next, which could feel like a breath of fresh air.

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