Why do these films need to be prequels?

[TheBATMAN]

It's a simple question. Why is it necessary for these films to take place before the original Alien? I know certain hints are apparent to suggest David may be playing a hand in the creation of the creature, but for argument's sake let's say he is simply replicating an idea already perfected by the Engineers and that the alien is indeed a centuries old bio-weapon. So in that respect, did Prometheus need to be a literal prequel to Alien - does it need to be set in that time frame in order to tell it's story? Could the story be set in the substantial gap post Alien 3 and before Alien Resurrection and still reveal the origins of the creature?

For one thing it would explain the technology upgrades of the Prometheus more naturally. Peter Weyland could easily be changed as the founder of the corporation to simply the current head. For me the only reason I can see why Prometheus and Alien Covenant need to be prequels is to show how the original derelict ended up on LV-426. But that has been such a grand mystery over the years, is it a question that really needs answering?

So should Prometheus have been Alien 5, and Covenant Alien 6? Set in the large gap between films 3 and 4? Could the series eventually end with an aged Ripley 8 clone confronting a now centuries-old David 8 on some far-off, Giger-esque world?

Basically is Scott's new take on the films an unnecessary restriction because he chose to have them take place pre-Alien?

[SM]

Setting them between Alien3 and Resurrection has their own restrictions.

They're prequels because that's the movie Ridley wanted to make I suppose.

[whiterabbit]

Scott wanted to tell the story of the Space Jockey and the creation of life. Both alien and artificial person. It does kind of need to be set before the events of alien to be honest. Of course we're hoping that the derelict crashed millions of years ago but at the moment that doesn't seem to be the case.

[BishopShouldGo]

They impose the restrictions upon themselves. Covenant could've taken place only two years after Prometheus, but they chose 10. It's all kind of arbitrary.

[Evanus]

Yeah, thought about this as well recently. Perhaps it would have been better if these movie weren't prequels, because now David will be responsible for everything. 

Oh well. Maybe he isn't. But they're hinting at it.

[TheBATMAN]

Setting them at least after Alien 3 would allow for far more freedom in my opinion and allow the birth of many new concepts considering there is a 200 year unexplored gap between 3 and Resurrection. I don't see why the story of the Space Jockey and the creation of life cannot be discovered long after human Ripley's story is concluded. All it takes is for the star map to be found a hundred years later instead.

[CainsSon]

They can make a midquel between each Alien film and include David and then eventually make David meet Ripley 8. He is an android.
Theycan make Alien Isolation, they can make Ripley 8 do battle with the Engineers, they can make an entire film telling Newt's Tale on Hadley's Hope. They can have David place the Egg on the Sulaco.
Or they could do none of this.
From an options perspective - they've done the best thing setting these prior and focusing on something else.

[Darth Vile]

I'd imagine it's simply the best way to offer a clean slate for the writers/filmmaker. It allows them to fully ignore any established continuity post Alien? Makes sense to me...

[SpeedyMaxx]

They don't.

The smartest thing to do after Prometheus would've been to have Shaw and David wake up from cryo on the juggernaut 500 years later - far ahead of all the other films - and continue a separate story, free of continuity or expectation or prequel baggage.

It's still what should be done.

[NickisSmart]

It's not that they need to be anything. I think it's were Ridley decided to set them. Is this restricting? Not if you ask me, because these aren't direct prequels; they exist in the same universe, but no one from the first four films is in Prometheus or Alien: Covenant.

[motherfather]

IF Prometheus had actually featured elephantine GIANT engineers rather than the puny miniscule engineers we had to put up with, then it should have been a prequel.

As it stands, I think the Prometheus we actually got in the end works better as a sequel after the events of Alien resurrection, and in another corner of the universe where the cancelled Weyland Yutani project to recover the xeno gets re-invigorated by fresh coordinates revealed in cave paintings.

I just feel that a lot of times franchise films go backwards into prequel storytelling and break chronology as a kind of smoke and mirrors facade to distract audiences from inconsistencies.  Or because they couldnt be bothered to think up credible ways of moving forward with the chronology. Lazy...

There was genuine mileage in trying to explain the juggernaut chair creature though, so its a tough call. I guess AVP is what kept Prometheus at arms length distance and more likely to be a prequel though. Who would want to get anywhere near AVP - even with a barge pole?

[SpeedyMaxx]

It's not that they need to be anything. I think it's were Ridley decided to set them. Is this restricting? Not if you ask me, because these aren't direct prequels; they exist in the same universe, but no one from the first four films is in Prometheus or Alien: Covenant.

As of Covenant they are now increasingly direct.

[TheBATMAN]

It's not that they need to be anything. I think it's were Ridley decided to set them. Is this restricting? Not if you ask me, because these aren't direct prequels; they exist in the same universe, but no one from the first four films is in Prometheus or Alien: Covenant.

It is restricting because their status as prequels to the first film ensures they are limited with what they can and cannot include to avoid retconning/conflicting with future established plot lines. For example, LV-223 regardless of its location is now a major plot hole because as it stands we have an abandoned Engineer weapons facility and the company knows where it is, yet have done nothing about it, despite losing their founder there. Prometheus' status as an Alien prequel makes this an important issue that needs resolving, whereas was Prometheus a sequel to Alien 3, there is no such problem. It simply opens the door for a continuation of that story.

[SpeedyMaxx]

I don't think 223 is a big plot hole. For one thing we don't know what they did or didn't do about it, and we have no idea how information about Project: Prometheus was disseminated through the company, especially after merging with Yutani. It could've gone down a corporate black hole, as it seems much about LV-426 did after Alien.

[SM]

As SpeedyMaxx, the destination of Prometheus was classified so we don't know exactly who knows what back on Earth.

I think there are some issues with LV-223, but that's not one of them.