"Please Disney. Please stop Ridley from making more Alien films."
With any luck. But I wouldn't count on it. The man has serious influence, and is a highly respected director. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he's allowed to finish his trilogy. Although I've been vocal (to say the least) of my disapproval of the prequels, I do think it's fair to say that Prometheus (most likely due to the sheer awfulness of covenant) is actually rather a decent film. It succeeded in delivering a dark/foreboding sense of horror; it was just not a creature focused horror like an Alien film. But, nevertheless, the score and the world/situations had me quite tense. The cast, for all their written faults, was generally watchable and I could believe them as a group. Consequently, I've developed a kind of respect for it, and can enjoy it for what it is.
The thing that gets lost in translation with covenant I think (most likely due to pure emotion), isn't so much that it failed to be a good Alien movie or Prometheus movie. What happened is that it wasn't a good movie at all, purely on its own merits. I can pretty much find at least one thing to like in any movie ever made, even if it's just one scene or a single good line. In my opinion, Covenant had and delivered absolutely nothing. It was one of the most boring messes of a film I've ever seen. It either had nothing to say, or no idea of how to say it. But, like I said, it's easy to bash a movie because it's supposed to be a part of your favorite franchise. Whatever Covenant was, wherever it was supposed to belong, it just felt empty, period. I can only classify it as some kind of abstract/quasi-futuristic homosexual human interest piece.
And I do feel the need to say, I still think they misused the character of Lope. There was a lot of potential for a great character there, and I was just waiting for him to go into buttkicker mode. Nobody could ever be as bad as Hicks, and that's not what I was expecting, but I was expecting something awesome from that character. Some level of vengeance driven rage at the death of his partner, or just some good fight still in him. Alas, he turned into some screaming crying dude running away from the Alien, and was then killed off-screen. What a waste.
I was still on the fence about Scott when Prometheus came out. Covenant more than proved he is the wrong person to head this franchise now. Whatever happens, even if this series turns into some kind of Aliens/Pacific Rim/Jurassic World hybrid, something has to change quickly, and it's always best to start at the top.