Since its inception in ’79, the Alien franchise has been defined by rip-roaring highs and crushing lows – by instant classics (Aliens) and shelved sequels (Alien 5).
But the illustrious Ridley Scott has gone one step further to claim that Alien ought to be “on the same level” as Star Trek and Star Wars, two of the biggest sci-fi properties ever made, when it comes to fandom. Anyone with even a passing interest in film will know that Scott isn’t one to mince words – in fact, the director recently went on record to label himself “too dangerous” for Lucasfilm’s rejuvenated Star Wars series – and here, he argues that the Alien franchise deserves a little more love and attention.
There’s no reason why Alien should now not be on the same level for fans as Star Trek and Star Wars. So I think the next step as to where we go is, do we sustain the Alien (series) with the evolution of the beast or do we reinvent something else? I think you need to have an evolution on this famous beast because he’s the best monster ever, really.
As for what the future holds, Ridley Scott has already outlined his desire to “drift away from the Alien stuff” in order to double down on the franchise’s new threat: artificial intelligence. Yes, those human-like synthetics will seemingly be the true villain of Alien henceforth, and Scott even took time to praise Michael Fassbender’s dual role in Covenant.
David is a fantastic villain. I love what Fassbender did in Covenant. But it’s f***ing hard, dude. We lifted Alien out of a ditch and made Prometheus.
And though it fared pretty well with critics, Covenant‘s $240 million haul is a far cry from Prometheus, which brought in $403 million worldwide back in 2012. Nevertheless, Scott fully intends to be back behind the lens sooner rather than later, even if he leaves H.R. Giger’s famous Alien by the wayside.
