'Alien: Awakening' Will Follow 'Alien: Covenant' Along With (Maybe) Three More Sequels
We thought James Cameron was being rather ambitious by planning four sequels to his sci-fi hit Avatar, but then Ridley Scott came along and let us know about how big plans for the future of the Alien franchise. We already know the creator of the original Alien from 1979 was seemingly prepared to make sequels until he keeled over on set, but we didn't think he was actually going to follow through on that promise.
In a recent interview, Ridley Scott revealed that the title for the next film in his xenomorph franchise will apparently be Alien: Awakening. However, that sequel will not take place after Alien: Covenant, and it's just the tip of the iceberg of new installments of the Alien franchise. There's a lot to chew on here.
Alien: Awakening Will Take a Step Back
Speaking with Fandango, Scott said that the next movie in the Alien franchise would take a step back before we move closer to where the original Alien begins. The director, somewhat confusingly, explained:
"There will be another one before we kind of literally and logically, clockwise, back into the rear back head of [the original] Alien."
Don't worry, the interviewer was a little confused too, and thankfully, they got some clarification on the matter by asking what the narrative timeline of the sequels would look like. Scott explained:
"It will go Prometheus, Awakening, Covenant....[it's] fairly integral where this colonization ship is on the way...."
During this part of the interview, Alien: Covenant star Katherine Waterston interrupted Ridley Scott because she thought he was giving too much away. So Scott reeled things in a bit before adding:
"But yes, there will be more after this. I think that was the question. If this is successful, and then the next one, and then there will definitely be three more."
So if Alien: Covenant is successful, we'll get Alien: Awakening, which apparently takes place between Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Then after that, Scott thinks that they have three more Alien movies to make. That's one more movie than initially planned when Scott first set out to make this sequel. Remember when Alien: Covenant was the first in a new trilogy?
However, the way Scott said that he had one more more movie before they head back towards the original Alien makes me think that those three other sequels he's talking about will be the trilogy that actually leads back to the original Alien while Alien: Covenant will actually be the end of the trilogy that began with Prometheus. We really don't know, because it's all very confusing, and my nose just started bleeding.
Do We Need This Many Alien Sequels?
As someone who was lukewarm on Prometheus, my excitement for Alien: Covenant is firmly in check. While I think this looks like a return to the roots of the Alien franchise, it doesn't particularly look like anything special either. I'm not sure that I can honestly say that I'm excited for the sequel as much as I'm curious. Therefore, the thought of four more Alien movies just feels like white noise to me.
There's always the chance that Alien: Covenant will reinvigorate my interest in the Alien franchise, and it might even justify why there will be four more movies that Scott has in his head. At the same time, there's also the chance that these Alien sequels turn into one of the many projects that Ridley Scott talks about but never ends up in front of a camera.
Knowing that Scott has such an ambitious plan for the future of the franchise, it's easy to see why Neill Blomkamp's approach to continuing the Alien franchise isn't happening anytime soon (or likely ever). But if Scott just keeps padding out the story between Prometheus and Alien, I can't help but think that seeing an alternate take to the Alien timeline after Aliens would be preferable.
Anyway, it's safe to say that 20th Century Fox won't be abandoning the Xenomorphs anytime soon. We'll have a better idea as to whether or not fans are still interested in what Ridley Scott wants to do with the franchise when Alien: Covenant opens on May 19, 2017.