It’s no secret that director Ridley Scott wants to make a couple more Alien films after this month’s Alien: Covenant. Not long ago he even mentioned that the story for the next one had already been set and filming could take place as early as next year. Based on his comments to IGN UK, it sounds like the veteran filmmaker is getting his way. As of right now, the next Alien film appears to be on target to shoot during Summer 2018 and then arrive sometime in 2019.
“We’re writing [a sequel] now, as we speak. I’ll be filming that within 14 months.”
This revelation comes on the heel of a very successful round of critics screenings for Covenant. The majority of the film’s reviews to date have been positive, something that no doubt pleased Fox enough to start scheduling the next one. Keep in mind that the studio has not yet officially announced another entry, but short of Covenant not doing well around the world, Scott is likely to be given the greenlight in the coming months.
Another nugget contained within the interview is the proposed title for District 9 director Neil Blomkamp’s now-defunct Alien 5. According to Scott, that project was named Alien: Awakening, a title previously prescribed to this upcoming Covenant follow-up. For a time, Fox had been developing Blomkamp’s Sigourney Weaver-starring entry alongside Covenant, but ultimately decided to not go forward with a competing Alien film.
To avoid confusion as I speculate for a moment, let’s refer to this untitled Covenant follow-up as Prometheus III for the time being. We know the film is likely to get made and that it is scripting at this very moment. Beyond that, we know very little. Will any characters from Covenant carry over to it? I guess that depends on what, if any, characters survive the events of the new film.
When will it take place? Scott once muttered the possibility of a future film existing between the events of Prometheus and Covenant, but that seems unlikely. Chances are it will just pick up sometime after the new film. That said, there have been rumors that not all of these prequel will take place before the events of the original Alien. That one or more might reside between the events of Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens.
No matter what direction Prometheus III takes, I sincerely hope that Michael Fassbinder’s sinister android David is at the center of it all.
