With “Alien: Romulus” making a solid $350.8 million at the box office that led to a direct sequel in the works from director Fede Álvarez and Noah Hawley’s “Alien: Earth” coming to Hulu this August, we had assumed there was enough studio drive that the third prequel film in the works at 20th Century Studios with Ridley Scott would finally move forward to complete his David (played by Michael Fassbender) saga with “Alien: Awakening.”
However, Scott might be finally burned out with the franchise from his side of things (not the first or second time he’s walked away). In a recent interview with Screen Rant, the filmmaker who now has creative control over “Alien” projects via his production company Scott Free, is signaling he might be abandoning directing opportunities and leaving it for others to tackle.
“It is spreading like wildfire, and not really. I think I felt it was deadened after [‘Alien Resurrection’]. I think mine was pretty damn good, and I think [James Cameron’s] was good, and I have to say the rest were not very good. And I thought, “F***, that’s the end of a franchise which should be as important as bloody ‘Star Trek‘ or ‘Star Wars,’ which I think is phenomenal. At least, I think the first one by George is seminal–it was as seminal as 2001. To me, it was that important in terms of film language and where you go next.”
“A number of years after, I said, ‘I’m going to resurrect this,’ [and wrote] ‘Prometheus’ from scratch–a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I sat and then hammered out Prometheus. It was very present and very welcome. The audience really wanted more. I said, “It needs to fly.” No one was coming for it, [and] I went once again [and made] ‘Alien Covenant,’ and it worked too. Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further,” Scott said of his return and now current feelings on making more himself.
Scott had once collaborated with Cameron on their version of “Alien 5” (not to be confused with Neill Blomkamp’s retcon version) that was tossed aside for the first PG-13 film in the series, “Alien Vs. Predator,” and Scott’s fifth installment would morph into an origin tale with “Prometheus.”
Speaking of “AVP,” the trailer for “Predator: Badlands” revealed for the first time in a solo installment that they would be adding elements of the “Alien” franchise with Elle Fanning potentially playing a Weyland-Yutani android and lots of the company’s logos are littered on the off-world colony in the movie. This has sparked theories that the studio is moving toward a real version of the “AVP” crossover that was handled a lot better in comic books and video games than the wonky Earthbound contemporary film adaptations.
Only time will tell if “AVP” is a reality or if someone else ends up completing “Alien: Awakening” for Scott.
