Let it be known that Ridley Scott has big, big plans for the Alien franchise. Buoyed by the relative success of Prometheus – an international haul of $403 million is not to be frowned upon – the illustrious filmmaker has Alien: Covenant in the tank ahead of its release in May, along with an as-yet-untitled sequel that is expected to be summoned before the cameras at some point in 2018.
That’s a remarkably quick turnaround, even for a filmmaker of Ridley Scott’s caliber, but it seems the director has a tentative title in place for Covenant‘s sequel: Awakening. Word comes by way of Fandango (via Collider), who spoke to Scott in anticipation of Alien: Covenant. Before touching base on the franchise’s immediate future, the filmmaker teased some of the “very interesting questions” that will be raised via Covenant – let’s just hope there are some very interesting answers to boot, lest we end up with puzzling plot holes in the vein of Prometheus.
We already know that Scott’s prequel-sequel will begin to cast light on the creative process behind the Xenomorph, the galaxy’s perfect organism, but here, the decorated director addressed David (Michael Fassbender) and how the topic of artificial intelligence will be woven into the film’s narrative.
“It’s beginning to answer the who and why. It’s definitely gorier, and smarter. In it we raise some very interesting questions about the position and possibility of AI against human condition, and it crosses into the zone of apartheid — kind of like how Roy Batty was treated like a second class citizen. And so is David. The knee-jerk was to create a second class citizen, even if he is superior to everyone. So the natural thing to do at the end of Prometheus was to send them off together because when you think you’ve got it, you’ve got to keep the characters alive, as opposed to killing them. And [Coventant] starts to answer the who and why.”
Will Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw crop up in Covenant? Absolutely, according to Scott: “Yes, in a way. Not fully, but in a way. She was integral to what David carried out later.” Perhaps Rapace’s wayward explorer will appear via glitchy flashbacks?
In terms of the sequel’s working title, it’s called Awakening, and may well slot into the space between Prometheus and Covenant: “It will go Prometheus, Awakening, Covenant.. fairly integral where this colonization ship is on the way….”
Beyond that, there are at least another three movies simmering on the back-burner. Here’s what Scott to share:
“If this is successful, and then the next one, and then there will definitely be three more.”
Alien: Covenant slithers into theaters on May 19th.