Despite the middling box-office returns of ‘Alien: Covenant,’ and the divisive fan reaction to both ‘Covenant‘ and ‘Prometheus,’ it seems that Ridley Scott still has big plans for the ‘Alien’ franchise, though whether or not 20th Century Fox allows him to move forward with those plans is another matter entirely.
WARNING: Spoilers for ‘Alien: Covenant’ below!
In the current age of franchise madness, it is not outside the realm of possibility for the studio to take the ‘Alien’ movies away from the man who created them and do a soft reboot with a new director in an attempt to recapture the magic of the original and regain the support of the fanbase which Scott has managed to split with the most recent batch of prequel movies. Of course, there would be a lot of fans who would revolt at that, especially since ‘Alien: Covenant’ ended on such a cliffhanger, with A.I. David taking control of the Covenant spacecraft with the 2,000 colonists frozen aboard, on the way to creating his own perfect world, now that he created his own perfect “creature” in the Xenomorph. Throw in the fact that Scott has teased that the next film would herald the return of the Engineers and tie directly back into the original ‘Alien,’ and it seems as though this is the one fans have been waiting for, and it would be foolish for 2oth Century Fox to not allow him to remain in control.
As for what exactly Scott has in mind for the next film in the franchise, clearly it is going to revolve around the A.I. David who has basically become the main character/ villain of the prequel films (though some fans take umbrage with that fact, saying the Xenomorphs are not even the bad guys in their own franchise anymore). ‘Covenant’ implied that David is the one responsible for creating the Xenomorphs in the first place, and it seems that the next film would explore what a world created by David would look like, at least according to a recent interview with Scott.
While out promoting ‘Blade Runner: 2049,’ Scott spoke with Empire podcast and shared some details about where he saw the next movie heading:
“I think the evolution of the Alien himself is nearly over, but what I was trying to do was transcend and move to another story, which would be taken over by A.I.’s. The world that the AI might create as a leader if he finds himself on a new planet. We have actually quite a big layout for the next one.”
What are your thoughts on Scott’s plan for the future of the franchise? Could the follow up to ‘Alien: Covenant’ finally deliver a film the fans can be happy about? Or is Scott so mired in his own world-building that he cannot see the forest for the trees? What would you think of a soft-reboot of the franchise without Scott at the helm? Feel free to share your thoughts on the matter in the comments below!
