Ridley Scott Exits Alien Franchise, Shares Hopes Forward

Legendary director Ridley Scott appears to have concluded his direct involvement with the Alien franchise, stating, "I think I've done enough."

The acclaimed English filmmaker, who launched the iconic sci-fi horror series with 1979's Alien and later revived it with 2012's Prometheus, told ScreenRant recently, "Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further."

Scott has entrusted the franchise to skilled successors, with Fede Álvarez's successful Alien: Romulus and Noah Hawley's upcoming FX series Alien: Earth. Alien: Romulus performed so well that a sequel is already in development. Additionally, the upcoming Predator: Badlands will feature several Alien crossover references.

In the interview, Scott reflected on the franchise's decline after 1997's Alien: Resurrection, which motivated him to reboot the series with Prometheus. He followed that film with 2017's Alien: Covenant, which remained the last mainline entry until last year's Alien: Romulus.

"I think I felt it was deadened after 4," he remarked. "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. 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 find phenomenal."

The Alien Movies in Chronological Order

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He continued, "Years later, I decided to resurrect it, [writing] Prometheus from scratch—a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I then hammered out the script for Prometheus."

"The response was immediate and positive. Audiences clearly wanted more. I insisted, 'It needs to fly.' When no one else stepped up, I returned to make Alien: Covenant, and it was also successful. For its future direction, I believe I've contributed enough, and I sincerely hope it continues to evolve."

While Scott has no plans to direct another Alien film, he served as a producer on Alien: Romulus and is an executive producer for Alien: Earth through his Scott Free Productions. Speaking of Alien: Earth, its first full trailer gave fans plenty to speculate about.