Ridley Scott has confirmed he isn’t done with the Alien franchise, as he’s developing a sequel to Alien: Covenant.
When speaking with the LA Times, Scott confirmed he is still developing a sequel to Alien: Covenant, one that would follow Michael Fassbender’s character, David. Scott revealed that the film would see David creating a “brave new world for himself” and deal with AI going awry. The android character was introduced in Scott’s Alien prequel, Prometheus, and returned for Alien: Covenant. Throughout the two films, it has become extremely clear that his character plays a significant role in the Alien universe.
The end of Covenant teased that his story was far from over, but that follow-up film has been in development hell for nearly a decade. Covenant itself missed the mark financially, and then Fox was acquired by Disney, which likely caused all kinds of issues with the film’s development. Still, the Alien IP is very active with FX’s Alien: Earth series and 2024’s Alien: Romulus, which was a big hit. There’s also the highly-anticipated Alien: Isolation 2 on the horizon for gamers.
Ridley Scott had previously stated that he wanted to make a whole series of Alien prequels that lead into the original film, and his follow-up to Covenant would be one of many entries to build up to that. As of right now, it’s unclear when Ridley Scott plans to break out the chestbursters again. He just released The Dog Stars, starring Jacob Elordi (which IGN gave a 5), and has a Treasure Planet adaptation with Hugh Jackman set to begin filming in November, a Bee Gees project at Paramount, and a variety of original films in different stages of development.
Scott is a prolific director who cranks out a movie every other year at this point, but he’s also 88. He doesn’t have any plans to stop making movies, but it’ll be interesting to see if he can get to the next Alien movie within the next couple of years. A sequel to Alien: Romulus is also in the works at Fox, but there’s no word on when that will arrive either.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
