In the years leading up to Prometheus‘ release, Alien fans were beside themselves with gleeful anticipation. Here was a prequel set to right the wrongs of past entries in the iconic franchise and, by effect, wipe away any lingering memory of those shoddy crossover movies featuring the Predator. At least, that was the idea.
Prometheus was by no means a disaster, but for all of its world-building and haunting cinematography – not to mention Marc Streitenfeld’s spine-tingling score – Scott’s wildly ambitious prequel was undercut by asinine characters and a script that raised more questions than it answered. One writer who contributed to the film’s screenplay was Damon Lindelof, who signed on to fine-tune the spec script hatched by Jon Spaihts and Ridley Scott himself.
Back then, Lindelof was privy to the minutia of Scott’s prequel franchise, including how it’ll eventually dovetail with the Alien movie of 1979. And though there’s a very real chance that the illustrious filmmaker has altered those plans in the years since Prometheus touched down in 2012, Damon Lindelof indulged in a spoiler-filled chat with Collider. If you’ve yet to catch Alien: Covenant on the big screen, continue on at your own discretion.
When asked about the sequel to Alien: Covenant, Lindelof hinted that Michael Fassbender’s unruly David is now on a course toward the true home of the Engineers, and that the planet featured in Covenant was simply one of their many colonies. Bear in mind that Ridley Scott’s prequel-sequel was originally titled Alien: Paradise, before it was eventually altered to include the ship’s evocative name.
Does that mean Scott shuffled things around so that the Engineers’ home planet will now be unveiled in his third (and perhaps final?) Alien prequel? Here’s what Lindelof had to share:
I think that one of the conversations that we had at the end of Prometheus is, Shaw and David have basically locked in on the coordinates of the planet where the Engineers came from. What does that place look like? Ridley called it ‘Paradise’. What happens when they land on that planet? It doesn’t feel like they’ve gotten there yet in Covenant, Covenant felt like it maybe was a detour prior to them arriving at the place of origin so I don’t want to spoil any place that he might still be wanting to go, but the conversations that he and I had about where the story goes next were largely about the place where the Engineers were from and less the events of Covenant.
Alien: Covenant underwhelmed at launch across the board, after its lukewarm reviews were matched by an equally tepid box office opening. Nevertheless, that has in no way quelled Ridley Scott’s enthusiasm to step back behind lens within the next 14 months for what will become his third Alien prequel movie.
