What kinda buffles me is why Scott easily surrendered his chance on making a Blade Runner sequel when as of late he seems to be immensely fascinated with the whole AI thing (again) and instead trys to push this theme (which obviously is only a side theme in the original picture) through in a franchise where he knows that a lot of the fans and the studio itself are more or less interested in seeing only one thing return: the infamous Alien.
AI stuff and BR way better matches in my eyes. Im glad though cause i think BR2049 turned out infinitely better than Prom and AC.
Scott is such a veteran in his field, he mustve known the chances of a considerable public backlash werent exactly low, and above all else he mustve anticipated that sooner or later FOX would insist on reimplanting the Alien. And that they wont be happy with statements like "the beast is cooked" goes without saying.
Think the chance of a sequel under Ridleys helm are quite slim as of right now.
A little kitchen sink psychology at the end: I think Scott isnt very happy himself with the portrayal of the Alien in AC and is trying to distance himself from that part of the picture by coming out with these public comments on the subject. Im really getting the impression theres a lot of dissens going on between him and the studio bosses and hes getting more and more frustrated seeing his artistic vision getting burried under external influences on his artistic work.
FOX wont do another sequel with yet another Alien cameo and Ridlley prob wont be interested in another Alien focused picture and too old and resigned to compromise again here...
On the other side someone like DV is getting 150mio for a 2:45 R-rated picture and then FOX comes along imposing the Alien on Ridley again, demanding a roughly 2 hours action fest? Whyyyy would he do that-- Then again he seems to be the archetype of a workaholic so theres that.