Some will celebrate, others will lament, but all should note that Damon Lindelof is NOT returning to pen PROMETHEUS 2. The Bad Robot screenwriter discussed his reasons at a STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS event last week:
“The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it. And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in. The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting. But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.”
“I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does. I don’t have the capability. I’m usually very single-minded creatively. I can only be working on one thing at a time. So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff. And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.” And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.” He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him. But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.”
Fanboys, eh? Sounds like somebody is experiencing a little bit of George Lucas’ “Why is everyone yelling at me?” syndrome. That’s okay– Lindelof has taken a lot of flack for the underwritten characters of PROMETHEUS, while most of the praise for the film’s themes and design has gone to director Ridley Scott. Which, frankly, ol’ Lind-y should get some credit for too. It’s easy to understand his frusration.
Still, preceding the pull quote, Lindelof cited STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS and various other Bad Robot projects as factors keeping him from a PROMETHEUS follow-up. So it isn’t all fanboy vitriol influencing the decision. The question is– PROMETHEUS fans, how are we feeling about a sequel without the writer? Be it good, bad, or indifferent, please tell us in the talkback section below.