When Alien: Covenant bombed at the box office in 2017, Sir Ridley Scott's plans for a series of prequels were derailed. Of course, the Disney/Fox merger also factored into that, and Disney has since decided to commit to Noah Hawley's vision for a TV series that will seemingly reinvent the franchise in new and familiar ways.
The Independent recently sat down with Scott to discuss his upcoming projects and got his thoughts on where things when wrong with the Alien franchise on the big screen.
Talking about 2012's Prometheus, a movie that grossed over $400 million at the box office, he said: "I never showed an alien in it...and the studio said, 'See, it didn’t do so well!' Really?" With Alien: Covenant, he "put the aliens back in there," but the sequel made only $240 million. "When you’ve got a marvellous beast, it does wear out and you have to actually think again."
As for that TV series, Scott chose his words carefully, but did make a tongue in cheek comment about his expectations for the Fargo and Legion showrunner's small screen Alien plans.
"It’ll never be as good as the first one," he said with a grin. "That’s what I’ll say."
It's possible the filmmaker isn't best pleased with the franchise moving on without him, of course, but he makes a fair point. Alien is rightly considered a classic, as is Aliens, and topping either one of them is likely to be nigh on impossible. Hawley doesn't have to, though, and anything that adds to this franchise in a meaningful way is sure to be welcomed by fans.
Just don't bank on Scott being among them...