Prometheus is many things to many people. Somewhere out there in the dark recesses of space the Internet, there’s a vocal minority that swears by Ridley Scott’s grand 2012 prequel – warts and all. Others…not so much.
For all of the film’s grandeur, ambitious world-building and haunting cinematography, for many, Prometheus was hamstrung by thinly-drawn (read: preposterously stupid) characters that became hard to root for, particularly once the black goo began hurling toward the fan. And though his Alien prequel tends to be unfairly compared to an unforgivable trainwreck, that blowback was enough to prompt Ridley Scott to indulge in a little soul-searching, eventually arriving at a back-to-basics, R-rated horror movie by the name of Alien: Covenant.
It’s by no means perfect, and our own Matt Donato found that Covenant still succumbs to some of the convoluted story beats that weighed on Prometheus, but those salivating at the return of the Xenomorph needn’t worry; H.R. Giger’s biomechanical monstrosity features heavily all throughout the film.
Indeed, when Scott reflected on the shortcomings of Prometheus during a recent chat with Yahoo Movies, the illustrious filmmaker pointed to the lack of said alien as one of the film’s major flaws.
It went straight up there, and we discovered from it that [the fans] were really frustrated. They wanted to see more of the original [monster] and I thought he was definitely cooked, with an orange in his mouth. So I thought: ‘Wow, OK, I’m wrong’… The fans, in a funny kind of way – they’re not the final word – but they are the reflection of your doubts about something, and then you realize ‘I was wrong’ or ‘I was right’. I think that’s where it comes in. I think you’re not sensible if you don’t actually take [the fans’ reaction] into account.
Whether you actually agree with the director, though, is another matter entirely. One thing’s for sure: Ridley Scott won’t wait around to get back on the horse. In closing, the director reaffirmed his commitment to begin filming Alien: Covenant‘s sequel within the next 14 months.
I’ll probably be filming it within a year. It’ll be out within a year and nine months. It’s weird when you’re writing, doing, planning, thinking about franchises, it’s amazing how it opens up and starts to evolve.
As for how much mileage is left in the tank, Scott was understandably cagey. Whereas before the filmmaker had hinted at the possibility of an all-new trilogy after Covenant – at the expense of Neill Blomkamp’s scrapped Alien 5, it seems – Scott told Yahoo! Movies that he may stop after two.
I don’t know. [I’ll make] maybe two more [films], or maybe one more, I don’t know.
Alien: Covenant opens May 19th.