This last week saw Ridley Scott's return to science fiction with his new series on HBO Max, Raised By Wolves. The new show uses much of the same sci-fi aesthetic as his last two Alien movies, Prometheus and Covenant. The director now says he's ready to return to that universe again but will abandon the new mythology he was building. After a terrible box office for Covenant and a terrible critical reception, he says it's time to move away from completing that trilogy and instead will attempt to return to the horror aspects of the original Alien. When speaking with Forbes, Scott discussed the disappointment with the last sequel and the direction he wants to go now:
"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 very 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."
Scott has repeated many times lately that he thinks there's a lot of mileage left in the saga and wants to find a way to get it back on even footing. Whether or not the studio sees it the same way remains to be seen. While it will suck to not get a conclusion to the latest trilogy, it seems like motivation towards completing it has dwindled especially considering the terrible box office receipts it saw several years ago.
Fans would argue that the Alien:Isolation videogame would be a great jumping off point to kickstart the franchise back to its origins.
-CG