With his new TV series Raised by Wolves due to premiere today on HBO Max, Sir Ridley Scott has been making the press rounds to promote the new series. In an interview with Forbes, Scott confirmed that he is continuing to work on a new prequel film, but also gave a rather confusing comment.
“That’s in process. We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with Prometheus and Covenant,” he enthused. “Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful because Prometheus woke it up very well. 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.”
Scott believing the Alien itself has “run out of steam” is something he has talked about several times in the past and was re-iterated during a 40th anniversary retrospective with The Hollywood Reporter in May of 2019.
“Ruminating on the immediate future of the Alien franchise, now that Disney has acquired 21st Century Fox, Scott confirms that there are discussions for future installments, but warns that if the basic premise of “the beast” does not evolve like the Xenomorph itself, the “joke” gets old.”
Could we be seeing a return to Alien-less films?
Is it possible that Scott is in fact talking about doing a Prometheus again and going Alien-less in next sequel, but existing within the same universe? While taking part in press junket’s for Alien: Covenant, Scott had talked about the Engineers returning to the aftermath of what David had done to their people. How would you feel about a new film returning without the actual Aliens, but instead focusing on the Engineers?
Thanks to Stolen for the news! Keep a close eye on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on all things Alien! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien fans on our forums!
https://theplaylist.net/katherine-waterston-third-day-interview-20200925/
Link for this one.
Spoiler
https://pa1.narvii.com/6373/9263d34a42dc387de0a25c1d77d86961876c8d2e_hq.gif
https://64.media.tumblr.com/19b1efa4d6d21d57f7c8c3e191a517be/tumblr_oobnjhuitu1s1v3r1o4_500.gifv
Spoiler
Of course girl, you are still alive... of course
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/00/1b/26/001b26b5cdca1889cb2caad99eebe923.gif
Maybe 20th & Ridley have left open the possibility of more Alien talks down the road? I would assume severing ties with such a visionary director is the last thing they'd want to do. You don't want the experience to color other projects, even if they never do anything more with Alien. And Ridley has a relationship and ties with 20th that one would assume he wants to maintain as well. I guess we'll see. I wouldn't be surprised if 20th decides to reboot, they bounce ideas of Ridley and use him in some sort of advisory producer role.
Blade Runner 2049
Covenant
Raised by Wolves
Androids run out of steam for me....
If there is no sequel then I don't know why he even opens his mouth? Disney don't need him for an Alien movie and Scott doesn't need Disney for another film about androids.
Fair enough. Covenant is more cohesive than Prometheus though.
https://images.rapgenius.com/6za74k736pc03j9fp8h5gialh.500x223x11.gif
https://images.edexlive.com/uploads/user/imagelibrary/2020/6/11/original/gettyimages-485360238.jpg
Alien³ and Resurrection crapped all over Ripley's arc.
And then Prometheus and especially Covenant pretty much destroyed the xenomorph mythos to ridiculous levels.
That's the way I took it, based on this quote: "Whether or not we go directly back to that is doubtful". So honestly, "Ridley on Next Alien Prequel - "It's doubtful'" is just as much an accurate headline.
I encountered some utterly ridiculous, game-breaking problems with the AI, either glitching or obviously cheating. That's why I refuse to praise it as a whole. The presentation style was some of the best material the series has had in decades, but the actual gameplay gave me nothing but annoyance and frustration.
No, some people do. I doubt most do. I certainly do not.
The proper Space Jockeys they might be emulating, maybe, but not the contradictory Engineers.
One where you have a cohesive and genuinely compelling script, rather than fancifully going off on tangents for the sake of it.
'Covenant' was one big slap in the face to those who had invested time and emotion in Shaw's story.
Perfect analogy.
That essentially describes the direction of the prequels for me. Unwillling to take genuinely interesting risks, playing everything safe and tropey, not bothering to take the basic concept of the ancient astronaut theory and imaginatively run with it.
It even diluted the magic of the Space Jockey reveal into something much safer and less interesting, by turning them into living marble statues of people.
No, he gave us a superficial imitation of them. Gone were the nightmarish, exoskeletal phantasms of Giger and Winston.
To be fair to him, I will give Ridley major props for the scene in which the Alien enters the terraforming bay. I thought those moments of him upright where genuinely creepy.
I have to agree. As much as I loved Alien and the majority of Covenant, I just don't have the faith in him for another.
I think these comments sum up how I, and I guess how quite a few others feel. On one hand, the creature has been worn down through sloppy creature design and bad movies (I don't think anyone would argue 2004-2007 were particularly bad years).
On the other hand, Alien is still such a powerhouse of a movie from top to bottom. Within these pillars of excellency , is the creature designs, the execution and Bolaji's physically towering yet understated performance. It's a weird chasm to dissect because you watch Alienand think there is no way this monster is "cooked" but it's another narrative when I watch some of the other movies.
With that being said, and understanding Ridley's comments, I feel really conflicted as to whether he should get another crack. Hand on heart, my immediate reaction to both Prometheus and Covenant after their opening nights was 6/10 each. I do like Covenant more save the last 10 minutes. I do appreciate him opening up the doors to a wider universe - but I don't think his "prequels", specifically Prometheus are not HALF as good as he thinks they are.
I think if Prometheus made at least $100 Million more, Ridley would have had more freedom and less required course correction.
Just don't let Scott get anywhere close to it.
He's definitely not what the franchise needs nowadays.
I still don't think it felt really off necessarily, it just felt like every other incarnation of the Alien that fans bitched about since the original. He fell right into that same trap that everybody after the original did. Making them shriek assault chainsaw monsters.
But there IS something to say it is over exposed now, its never going to be as scary as it was originally.
Regarding the franchise, which is called... Alien! What could go wrong?
My heart bleeds
It's that simple...
Fox wanted aliens, so Ridley was forced to make them part of the story.
Otherwise Fox would have produced the Blomkamp fan film.
And thank god, don't touch Alien 3. Ripley's story is superb, why would you want to change that ...
Ridley f*cking giveth
https://www.scified.com/topics/6319653552923624.gif
And Ridley f*cking taketh
https://i.imgur.com/IaEeGre.gif
In reminds me of how Spider-Man 3 forced Venom into the story, which Sam Raimi clearly didn't want.
I still don't know if I want a third film from Ridley. But I would go with something like Aliens: Apocalypse - The Destoying Angenls and Aliens: Outbreak / Armageddon.
I didnt mind the neomorphs or the xenos, and think you can still explain away the xenos by simply saying that David followed instructions that were already there. To me Covenant was much better than Prometheus, but I still find it lacking behind the original trilogy by quite a degree.
It would've been better had they excluded the security team and made the married couples running the ship a bigger deal. Would've had more emotional impact.
They'd lost the rights to it around when Covenant was being made.
This. I still f**king love Covenant. I find the themes it's playing with particularly interesting, I still think David is fascinating and the whole frustration with creation aspect is something I love and think fits in with Alien (I've had the idea in the back of my head for a while now of someone who wants kids but can't, turns to the Aliens in some f**ked up way of getting children). But Covenant is definitely at it's worse once the Alien is introduced. Scott just doesn't handle it well and you can tell he was forced into including it in the film. And there's the whole it being a recent creation thing, but I'm sure we can tap-dance around that in another film.
Yeah I think given that he's an unreliable narrator there was plenty of room for two interpretations.
Now he needs to experience something like this:
We always assumed the engineers were the creators of the alien, or that they were at least using the aliens thousands of years ago. Ridley tried to reinvent the origin by introducing David and establishing him as the creator using engineer technology.
Maybe he's saying he's considering retconning that. Maybe we'll get the reveal that many fans are asking for: David didn't actually create the alien as we know it. He was either reverse engineering the goo back to the mysterious alien that originated it or he was simply recreating what the engineers already made.
If Ridley/Disney were going to just abandon the prequel storyline entirely, I don't see why Ridley would still be involved. Why would he up for directing the reboot that abandons his story? And why would Disney even want him involved if they were so dissatisfied with his last two entries?
Lol! Yeah
Spoiler
I agree
When has Disney ever played it anything but safe?
I can't see them buying Alien series, then doing something super experimental with the franchise right out of the gate without the title creature.
I think it is 100 percent more likely that they will set a formula off what made the first two films successful and run with it.
To me it reads like he is relying on his name to try and get Disney to spot him some money so he can run with ANOTHER attempted reboot of the franchise.
I love the first film, and there were elements of Covenant that I like, but c'mon man, this dude has basically buried the franchise over the last decade.
For him to direct another sequel/prequel that directly ties into the mythology he'd have to sell out on his vision big time.
That or maybe they throw him a bone and let him develop a series set in the same universe that doesn't directly impact the films. His comments of late remind me of what his comments were in the void between Resurrection and Prometheus.
He's had his shot already, cut him loose.
I absolutely agree with this, but also, that's why I find it interesting that he's returned to the series with those new sensibilities and interests; it makes for an interesting lens through with to see more directly how he's changed over time and how he differently interprets the same general material now than he did years ago, which I find fun to watch play out both in the films and behind the scenes.