Carl Roberts 
The visionary director to continue to evolve the Alien franchise and abandon his divisive prequels
I won’t say it. Oh ok, I will. I LOVE the entire ‘Alien‘ franchise as I have said many times before. I adore it. There’s nothing like sitting in a darkened movie theatre or my living room in the dark and watching those Xenomorphs wreak havoc on mankind. Even the ones that are sub-standard (Alien: Resurrection, Alien Vs Predator, etc) I have a soft spot for. Of course, though, nothing will ever top the original film or the sequel ‘Aliens‘, they are in a league of their own.
Sir Ridley Scott returned to the universe he helped start back in 1979 with ‘Prometheus‘ and ‘Alien: Covenant‘, two films set before the events of the original film and the basis for a new direction for the franchise to go in. The fans were all waiting for any news on a third film in the new timeline and Sir Ridley has now given us that news. The good news is that a new ‘Alien‘ film is in the works. Unfortunately, it doesn’t bode well for the ‘Prometheus‘ timeline due to the box office and critical disappointment of ‘Alien: Covenant‘. In an interview conducted with Forbes, Scott said that the franchise would continue but its the end of the line for his prequels:
“That’s in process. 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. I still think there’s a lot of mileage in ‘Alien’, but I think you’ll now have to evolve. What I always thought when I was making it, the first one, why would a creature like this be made and why was it traveling 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”
Although I thought ‘Alien: Covenant‘ was a letdown, I still enjoyed it enough to hope that Scott would be able to complete the storyline and to see the ultimate fate of Michael Fassbender’s David. This now seems like we will never know exactly how the storyline ended and if David succeeded in his quest or was ultimately stopped before unleashing the plague of Xenomorphs on the galaxy. I guess we will have to accept this unless a tie-in graphic novel is published that ends the story. But the news that a new film is incoming is great news for all the fans. Whether it is a new direction once again or the long-gestating, long-delayed, and previously canceled ‘Alien 5‘ that writer/ director Neil Blomkamp was working on before ‘Covenant‘ tanked is unknown at this time.
James Cameron has stated that he and Blomkamp are trying their hardest to get the fifth film back underway and I would love to see that hit the screen. But either way, the Xenomorphs are gearing up for another bout of blood-fuelled, gory mayhem. And I cannot wait to see it.
The Future of the Force. The future of pop culture writing.
Carl Roberts is a Senior Entertainment/Books and Literature Correspondent for The Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter @CarlRoberts2 where he uses the force frequently!
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
(Source: Forbes)
Carl Roberts is the News Editor for The Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter where he uses the force frequently!
