No one is entirely certain what's happening with the Alien franchise since the Disney/Fox merger, though multiple attempts have been made in recent years to resurrect the franchise after the mostly negative response to Alien: Covenant. That prequel left fans with even more questions than answers after the confusing Prometheus, and it's hard to imagine there being much interest left in once again returning to the past for whatever comes next.
During an interview with Forbes, filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott confirmed that he remains hard at work on a new Alien movie, but indicated that he now plans to take things in a different direction.
"That’s in process," he said while promoting HBO Max's Raised by Wolves. "We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with Prometheus and Covenant."
"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."
Most Alien fans would agree that the franchise does need those familiar elements, and what's been missing in recent years is a decent story to go with them. It's definitely a shame that whatever comes next won't answer all those dangling plot threads, but also more than likely for the best.
What do you guys think?