Alien (1979) remains Ridley Scott's horror/sci-fi masterpiece, but the prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant have received mixed reviews. Nevertheless, Scott wants to make another prequel, this time answering the big questions rather than rehashing old ideas.
Ridley Scott has made a number of critically acclaimed movies, including Gladiator, The Martian, and his other sci-fi classic, Blade Runner. However, Alien, which is only the second movie he directed, is still one of his best films. It is very well-made, with a comparatively slow pace to modern films of its kind that serves to build tension. On its surface, it's a science fiction movie, but its story structure, plot, and style are all taken out of the horror playbook.
Alien also helped to launch Sigourney Weaver's career, playing the female heroine in the film. After the crew discovers a crashed ship with the fossilized remains of its pilot, known as the "space jockey", they unknowingly bring back an alien that begins to run rampant in their ship, killing crew members one by one. Ripley, played by Weaver, and her cat, Jones, are the only ones who escape. In a 2020 interview with the LA Times, Scott stated that he would like to make another Alien prequel, only this time he wants to "re-evolve", answering the big questions about who the space jockey was and why he was carrying all of those alien eggs in what Scotts called a "kind of war-craft".
Why Scott Should Make A Better Alien Prequel
Part of the criticism concerning the Alien prequels is that they don't offer much new information or add a lot to the overall storyline. In Prometheus, the crew discovers the Engineers, who appear to have some connection to the aliens, it's still unclear if they are the creators of the alien species or if they were experimenting with them. The Engineer they find in stasis, after all, doesn't bear much resemblance to the space jockey in Alien, nor is he the right size, although some have speculated that the space jockey is an exoskeleton suit.
Then, in Alien: Covenant very little actually happens. A ship crashes on a mysterious planet and its crew is picked off, one by one, by alien creatures. It is discovered that David (Michael Fassbender), a humanoid android trapped on the planet, has been synthesizing the alien species. Although this is an interesting take that does offer some clues as to the creation of the aliens, it still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Plus, Covenant has far too many scenes that have already been done before in other Alien movies.
What A Better Alien Prequel Could Be About
Based on what Ridley Scott has said, he wants to answer questions about the space jockey. Why was the ship carrying the alien eggs? Where was it going? What was its purpose? Interestingly, if Scott chooses to "re-evolve" the prequel series, this may mean that he will disregard the storylines in both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant and start from scratch. Perhaps the entire story, or part of it, could be from the space jockey's point of view and about his intentions when he crashes his ship.
On the other hand, he may find a way to tie his new prequel into what already exists. At the end of Alien: Covenant, David resumes the Covenant's voyage toward the planet Origae-6 with 2000 colonists in stasis and some alien embryos. He may intend to use the colonists for his experiments and to propagate the alien species. If this is true, David could be the space jockey that was somehow twisted and transformed into a hulking alien before eventually being killed by a face-hugger and crashing his ship. Either way, Ridley Scott's intentions are clear: he is going to make another Alien prequel.