Will We See the Engineers Again

The futurity of the Alien franchise is in a state of flux at the moment, but Ridley Scott'due south plans for the next movie—if it ever gets made—are quite interesting. Scott returned to the sci-fi genre and the franchise that launched his career with the 2012 prequel Prometheus , which spurred a bevy of hot takes but grossed over $400 1000000 worldwide. That's non bad for an R-rated sci-fi thriller nearly the significant of life, and then 20th Century Fox greenlit a follow-up with Scott returning. That film was 2017's Alien: Covenant , a mixed bag of a sequel where Scott kind of backtracked and tried to give fans what he idea they wanted: more than xenomorph, less philosophy.

While Covenant has its fans, the pic grossed only a fraction of what Prometheus made, bringing in a mere $240 meg worldwide. That's not an out and out disaster (although the film didn't fifty-fifty fissure $100 million domestic), but the drop from its previous installment was disappointing for Pull a fast one on, leaving the future of the franchise in doubt.

alien-covenant-sequel-michael-fassbender — Image via 20th Century Fox

In the wake of Covenant's release, discussion broke that Fox was "reassessing" the future of the Alien franchise, fifty-fifty though Scott had already pitched two more sequels that he wanted to make. In fact, months before Covenant fifty-fifty hit theaters Scott said the adjacent movie was already written. And now, thanks to Empire (via HN Amusement and /Film), we take an idea of what the Alien: Covenant sequel would exist.

Penned by John Logan, who co-wrote Alien: Covenant, the follow-up motion-picture show is called Conflicting: Enkindling and would option upwardly after the end Covenant and follow Michael Fassbender's David as he brought the franchise full circle, back to the planet we first saw in the original Alien:

"Logan'southward script would have seen the render ofPrometheus' Engineers, with that species' survivors coming afterward the genocidal David. Setting-wise, Scott said it was obvious 'We're gonna really get to the planet'. by which we assume he means LV-426."

It always felt like there was more to be washed with the Engineers, and indeed that was Scott's original plan for Prometheus 2 earlier he inverse course. Around the time of Prometheus' release, here'south what Scott said about the sequel:

"Because [the Engineers] are such aggressive fuckers … and who wouldn't depict them that style, because their brilliance in making dreadful devices and weapons that would brand our chemic warfare expect ridiculous? So I ever had it in in that location that the God-like fauna that you will see actually is not and so nice, and is certainly not God. Equally she says, 'This is non what I thought information technology was going to exist, and I think we should become the Hell out of here or there won't be any identify to get back to.'That's not necessarily planted in the ground at the tail terminate of the tertiary act, but I knew that's kind of where nosotros should go, considering if we've opened up this door — which I promise we have because I certainly would like to exercise another ane – I'd love to explore where the hell [Dr. Shaw] goes side by side and what does she do when she gets there, because if it is paradise, paradise can not be what yous think it is. Paradise has a connotation of being extremely sinister and ominous."

prometheus-engineer-image — Image via 20th Century Play a joke on

Equally we now know, Scott killed off Noomi Rapace'southward character Dr. Shaw in Covenant, and so we're now left with only David. Information technology'due south unclear what, exactly, Scott has/had planned for when David does confront the Engineers, but again effectually the time of Prometheus the filmmaker spilled the beans on the franchise'south religious ties, saying that it would be revealed that the Engineers previously sent an emissary down to make humanity acquit, and the emissary's proper name was Jesus Christ:

"We definitely did [have that in the script], and so we thought it was a little too on the nose. Simply if you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like nosotros've gone out of command, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years earlier their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, 'Lets send down one more than of our emissaries to see if he tin can stop information technology.' Guess what? They crucified him.'"

Again, Scott's plans and ideas accept evolved a lot since Prometheus was released, and then at that place's no guarantee this is in the cards. And perhaps more importantly, we don't even know if Scott will be allowed to finish out this franchise. Covenant'due south box function tells the studio that audiences aren't interested in the direction Scott's take is going, so information technology'south more likely that we're in store for a reboot or remake of some sort in a few years. Of course Disney'southward acquisition of Fox becomes official in January, so the new corporate overlords no uncertainty take plans of their own for one of Fox's most valuable franchises.

For now, for fans of the weird places Scott was taking this franchise, it'southward interesting to hear where he wanted to accept this series. And it's non every bit if he'southward waiting idly by to make another Alien movie—he's weighing his side by side project as either a Merlin flick for Disney or a Gladiator sequel.