Ridley Scott Says He’s ‘Done Enough’ With the Alien Franchise: ‘I Just Hope It Goes Further’

Legendary director Ridley Scott has indicated he has moved on from the Alien franchise, declaring: “I think I’ve done enough.”

The 87-year-old English film director and producer, who directed 1979’s seminal sci-fi horror Alien before reviving the franchise with 2012’s Prometheus, told ScreenRant in a recent interview: “Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further.”

Scott has left Alien in capable hands, with the successful Alien: Romulus from Fede Álvarez and FX TV series Alien: Earth from Fargo creator Noah Hawley. Alien: Romulus did so well a sequel is in the works. And there are a number of Alien crossover references in the upcoming Predator: Badlands.

In the same interview, Scott talked about how the Alien franchise dropped off after 1997’s Alien: Resurrection, and how that fueled his desire to revive the series with Prometheus. Scott followed up on Prometheus with 2017’s Alien: Covenant, where the Alien franchise was left in terms of mainline films until last year’s Alien: Romulus.

“I think I felt it was deadened after 4,” he said. “I think mine was pretty damn good, and I think Jim’s [Aliens director James Cameron] was good, and I have to say the rest were not very good. And I thought, ‘F**k, that’s the end of a franchise which should be as important as bloody Star Trek or Star Wars,’ which I think is phenomenal.”

He added: “A number of years after, I said, ‘I’m going to resurrect this,’ [and wrote] Prometheus from scratch — a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I sat then hammered out Prometheus.

“It was very present and very welcome. The audience really wanted more. I said, ‘It needs to fly.’ No-one was coming for it, [and] I went once again [and made] Alien Covenant, and it worked too. Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further.”

While Scott has ruled out directing another Alien movie, he was a producer on Alien: Romulus and is an executive producer on Alien: Earth via his production company, Scott Free. Speaking of Alien: Earth, its first full trailer left plenty to chew on for fans.

Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

 

Editor-in-Chief for Robots Over Dinosaurs Anthony has been gaming since the 1980s. Working adjacent to the gaming industry for the last 20 years, his experience led him to open Robots Over Dinosaurs.

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