Some time ago I heard rumors that the Alien prequel wasn’t a one off project; the storyline was actually going to play out over multiple motion pictures. At the time it was unclear how many – everybody usually defaults to a trilogy – but it was clear that the Alien prequel wasn’t conceived as a standalone venture.
On Friday I had a chance to do a roundtable interview with Ridley Scott and as he was leaving the room I cornered him and tried to get confirmation of the rumor. Scott said that there would be two films.: ‘It’ll be prequel one and two. Then Alien 1.’
I asked him if he would be shooting the two movies back to back, and he scoffed. ‘At the moment I’m just trying to get the first one out,’ he said. Right now the director is deep in developing the script to the first film, and I don’t think much work – if any – has happened on the second film.
With Scott not directing the films back to back it’s possible that he will only direct the first movie, but it sounds to me like he sees this as his own trilogy, with Alien as the finale. While I remain infinitely skeptical of this – who needs a prequel? – I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground for more info as it comes available.