Work on Alien: Awakening (the follow-up to Prometheus and Alien: Covenant) halted when Disney acquired Fox, and given the response to the previous instalment, it seems highly likely that the franchise will eventually be rebooted. However, we've previously heard that this third prequel was going to see the Engineers hunting David for revenge after he wiped out their race.
While you might still be wondering how that would have tied into Alien, director Sir Ridley Scott has now explained that the movie was set to finally bridge the gap between the prequels and his original sci-fi classic, explaining the origin of those Xenomorph eggs in the process.
"I still think there’s a lot of mileage in Alien, but I think you’ll have to now re-evolve," the filmmaker explained. "What I always thought when I was making the first one [was] why would a creature like this be made and why was it travelling in what I always thought was a kind of war-craft, which was carrying a cargo of these eggs."
"What was the purpose of the vehicle and what was the purpose of the eggs? That’s the thing to question - who, why, and for what purpose is the next idea, I think," Scott concluded.
In other words, after delving into the overly convoluted creation of those eggs, Alien: Awakening would have revealed why they were on the ship that was discovered in Alien. Scott's exploration of this world wasn't what anyone expected, and while he clearly believes the franchise needs to evolve, most fans would just like to see it return to its horror roots.
Whether Scott will get the chance to tell this story obviously remains to be seen...