Ridley Scott Expects To Be Shooting Alien: Covenant Sequel “Within 14 Months”

Not one to rest on his laurels – even at 79 years young – Ridley Scott is beginning to drop hints regarding his as-yet-untitled sequel to Alien: Covenant.

IGN caught up with the illustrious filmmaker on the eve of Covenant‘s theatrical release (May 12th for the UK; May 19th in the States), and it was here that Scott reaffirmed his desire to jump straight back into the Alien universe once he’s wrapped work on Getty kidnapping drama All the Money in the World. “We’re writing [a sequel] now, as we speak,” the director confirmed, before revealing that he fully expects to be behind the lens on Covenant‘s follow-up “within 14 months.”

That’s a quick turnaround, even by Ridley Scott’s standards, and further in the interview, the filmmaker offered up a little more context regarding the situation with Neill Blomkamp’s canned Alien 5. It was never a full-fledged pitch, according to Scott, who took issue with the proposal to essentially split the Alien universe on to two separate tracks.

They wanted to do Alien, er, Awakening – Neill Blomkamp. I said fine. I was going to be the producer. If I could have, I would have. Except I do question – why have both [Blomkamp’s Alien and Scott’s Alien] out there? It seems like shooting your big toe off – it doesn’t make sense. But they didn’t go forward with it, Fox, so I just kind of kept out of it. I mean, I’d literally ignited this thing to bring it off the ground again, because it was lying there dormant on a shelf. I had this thing to bring it back up – but here we are.

One thing worth noting here is that Ridley Scott refers to Blomkamp’s scrapped Alien movie as Awakening, whereas before he indicated that that title belongs to Covenant‘s embryonic sequel. Perhaps it’s simply a blunder? Speaking of gaffes, up above you’ll find the blooper reel for Alien: Covenant, which breaks that iconic sense tension for some light-hearted fun ahead of the film’s impending release.

Though it’s hamstrung by franchise tie-ins, Alien: Covenant is a thrilling white-knuckle ride that successfully builds on the lore established in Prometheus five years ago. It’ll scurry into theaters across the UK and the States on May 12th and May 19th, respectively.