Ridley Scott’s Prometheus was a movie full of big ideas that asked a lot of lofty existential questions, but it didn’t really answer many of them in any sort of great detail. The script by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts is certainly ambitious in how it tries to incorporate philosophical and theological subtext into a sci-fi blockbuster, but by the time the third act rolls around, most of the concepts were either dropped or left unresolved as the focus pivoted towards set pieces instead.
Prometheus drew solid enough reviews from critics and was a box office success after hauling in $403 million, but when we got to Covenant, the franchise had reverted back to type, with the second prequel hewing much closer to the standard Alien template we’d grown accustomed to over the decades. It wound up as a commercial disappointment as well, with the next project for the Xenomorphs set to be the Hulu series currently in development from Scott and Noah Hawley.
The Alien veteran did admit last year that another feature film was in the works, but that’s the beginning and end of any talk we’ve heard about it since. However, insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that future Alien movies will explore the origins of the iconic extraterrestrials in more depth. That’s the extent of the tipster’s intel on the matter, but you could certainly make a sound argument for why it’s not an avenue worth exploring.
After all, part of the appeal of the Xenomorphs is that they remain shrouded in some degree of mystery even after 40+ years, and modern franchises have an infuriating habit of over-explaining everything to fill any gaps in the mythology. Besides, at this stage, a return to the roots of what made Alien so popular in the first place is surely the best option instead of more origin stories.
