Ridley Scott says the third Alien prequel would've answered the mystery of the Xenomorph eggs from his original sci-fi horror movie classic. Tentatively known as Alien: Awakening, the film would've picked up sometime between the events of Alien: Covenant and the 1979 Alien. Although not confirmed, John Logan's script reportedly saw the surviving Engineers tracking down the android David (Michael Fassbender), in the hopes of taking revenge against him for wiping out their people.

From there, it's believed the film would've eventually made its way to LV-426, e.g. the moon where Ellen Ripley and the other crew members of the Nostromo stumbled upon a collection of Xenomorph eggs and an unknown spaceship in Alien. Scott started to peel back the layers to that mystery with 2012's Prometheus, revealing the ship belonged to the alien race (known as the Engineers) responsible for creating humans. Its followup, Covenant, later confirmed it was David who developed the Xenomorphs after unleashing the black goo from Prometheus upon the Engineers' home world. In a dark twist, Covenant ended with David making his way aboard the eponymous colonization ship, clearly intending to continue his "experiments" on a new world (presumably, the ship's destination, Origae-6).

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Speaking to the LA Times in a recent interview, Scott suggested his intention was for Alien: Awakening to finish bridging the gap between Prometheus and the original Alien by answering the last few questions left lingering after Covenant. You can read his comment below:

“I still think there’s a lot of mileage in Alien, but I think you’ll have to now re-evolve. What I always thought when I was making the first one [was] why would a creature like this be made and why was it traveling in what I always thought was a kind of war-craft, which was carrying a cargo of these eggs. What was the purpose of the vehicle and what was the purpose of the eggs? That’s the thing to question - who, why, and for what purpose is the next idea, I think."

Crew of the Nostromo in Front of the Space Jockey in Alien 1979

This isn't the first time Scott's alluded to the Alien movies needing to evolve. So far, he's tried to do that by shifting the focus away from the Xenomorphs and more onto David, gradually evolving him into the big bad of the prequel trilogy. Reactions to both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant have been pretty mixed, though most everyone seems to agree their themes about creation and David's personal journey are easily their most compelling and exciting elements. By this point, more people seem interested in seeing those threads payed off in the third Alien prequel than they necessarily do in getting firm answers to the mysteries Scott's talking about here.

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Whether they'll actually get those answers, that's another matter. Although it wasn't a bomb, Alien: Covenant performed softer than expected at the box office in 2017. As a result, Alien: Awakening wasn't fast-tracked for production in the months following its release. Then, the whole project ground to a halt when Disney began the process of acquiring Fox's movie and television assets later that same year. There've since been reports of an Alien: Covenant sequel moving forward as recently as May 2019 (not long after Disney finalized its Fox deal), but that was over a year ago and Scott has since turned his attention elsewhere. Still, here's hoping he finally gets to round out the Alien prequel arc someday.

NEXT: Alien Space Jockeys Explained: Engineer Origin & Alien Connection

Source: LA Times