We have some new details regardingAlien: Awakening, the planned finale to Ridley Scott’s trilogy of prequel movies in his franchise that started back in 2012 withPrometheus. Unfortunately forRidley Scott, things have been put on hold ever since Alien: Covenant failed to meet expectations. Plus, with the Disney merger looming large, it seems less likely than ever that this movie will actually see the light of day. However, if this movie does somehow get made, it will tie the entire franchise together.
The new details come from Empire Magazine’s special Alien issue. Apparently, John Logan, who previously worked with Ridley Scott onGladiatorandAlien: Covenant, penned a script that would see the Engineers return. They were first featured inPrometheusand, as we learned in the last movie, Michael Fassbender’s David pretty much wiped them all out. But a few have survived and those who lived through the genocide are coming after David. But it’s where this chase leads them that is particularly interesting to fans of the franchise. Here’s what Ridley Scott had to say.
“We’re gonna actually go to the planet.”
The planet Ridley Scott is referring to is LV-426, the planet where the crew of the Nostromo first encounters theXenomorphsin theoriginal Alien. This would explain a lot.Covenantleft a lot of loose ends that needed tying up. David took over control of theCovenantship and brought aboard several of his specimens to use on the ship’s human hosts. Lots of Xenomorphs to be made. If the Engineers do chase David to LV-426, that would explain why Ripley and the gang discover the abandoned ship in the first movie. There has also been a long-standing theory that the infamous Space Jockey from the first movie is actually David in a new hybrid body. This would explain how he got there.
Unfortunately, as appealing as it may be for some to have this trilogy wrapped up, the likelihood of that happening lessens by the day. Originally, the idea was to have this be Ridley Scott’s next project after he wrapped up shootingAll the Money in the World. But Alien: Covenant grossed just $240 million worldwide working from a $97 million production budget and the movie was quite divisive. So Fox wasn’t terribly eager to putAlien: Awakeninginto production.
Ridley Scott has since moved on to several other projects, includingGladiator 2, which is now much closer to becoming a reality. Disney is expected to complete their purchase of Fox in early-to-mid 2019, means that they will be in control of the franchise at that point and there is almost no way they’re going to green lightAlien: Awakening. So, really, these details are just a “what could have been” sort of thing. All fans can do now is hope that rumors about that Alien TV series turn out to be true. This news was first reported byEmpire.
