Come October, Ridley Scott will serve up a much more realistic sci-fi piece than we are perhaps used to from the esteemed filmmaker with The Martian, his anticipated adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel that stars Matt Damon as the wayward astronaut. But now that his work on the Oscar hopeful is ostensibly complete, Scott is eager to begin work on Prometheus 2.
20th Century Fox’s pseudo-prequel may have divided the vocal Alien fanbase back in 2012, but with a $400 million box office haul to its name, the studio will surely be interested in continuing the budding new franchise – all we need now is a formal announcement. Unperturbed, Scott is aiming to set the production in motion in early 2016, and in a recent interview with Empire, the director confirmed that the sequel will indeed act as his next film.
Speaking along with his leading man Damon whilst promoting The Martian, here’s what Scott had to share about Prometheus 2:
“Ridley was done with the movie about two weeks after we shot!” Damon said.
“I was already on to my next movie!” Scott added. “I was starting to look for locations for my next movie, which is ‘Prometheus 2.’ ”
And there you have it. After a brief pitstop with The Counselor and sword and sandals epic Exodus: Gods and King, Scott is ready to return to a genre he helped define more than three decades ago. On the casting side of things, Michael Fassbender’s schedule will also be relatively free at the turn of the year, now that X-Men: Apocalypse has wrapped filming and Assassin’s Creed is set to slink in front of cameras this fall.
The bigger question for Fox, though, is where Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 comes into the equation. Last we heard, progress on Prometheus 2 may have resulted in the studio pumping the brakes on Blomkamp’s bold reboot, though bearing in mind Sigourney Weaver’s renewed role in the burgeoning Avatar universe, this unofficial delay may be the best result for both projects.
Ridley Scott plans to get the cameras rolling on Prometheus 2 in early 2016. The Martian, meanwhile, will enter near-Earth orbit on October 2.
