Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant sequel may focus more on A.I. than Aliens

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Over three decades after the release of the film which started it all, Ridley Scott returned to the ALIEN franchise in a big way with PROMETHEUS, a film which introduced some interesting concepts to the series but wasn't exactly immune from criticism when it came to its plot. A sequel, ALIEN: COVENANT, continued the PROMETHEUS story but brought back the Xenomorph which fans had sorely missed in PROMETHEUS. Critical opinion was much the same, but COVENANT's disappointing box-office left the future of the franchise a little uncertain.

However, should ALIEN: COVENANT 2 come to pass, Ridley Scott told The Empire Film Podcast that he believes the franchise may be done examining the evolution of the Xenomorph, and will instead focus more on artificial intelligence.

I think the evolution of the Alien himself is nearly over, but what I was trying to do was transcend and move to another story, which would be taken over by A.I.’s. The world that the AI might create as a leader if he finds himself onto a new planet. We have actually quite a big layout for the next one.

As someone who counts Michael Fassbender's chilling performance as David to be the best parts of both PROMETHEUS and ALIEN: COVENANT, I'd welcome a sequel in which the android gets to properly realize his grand design.

Ridley Scott once imagined ALIEN: COVENANT as the first of three PROMETHEUS sequels he'd make before linking back up with the original ALIEN, so I almost count the under-performance of ALIEN: COVENANT to be a blessing in disguise. Give us one solid sequel and I'll be happy. In the audio commentary for ALIEN: COVENANT, Scott confirmed that John Logan was already hard at work scripting a sequel, which will "probably" lead into the events of ALIEN. However, before embarking on another journey with androids and Xenomorphs, Ridley Scott told Empire that he has something else in the works but declined to elaborate, teasing that we'll find out in "two weeks." Ooooo.