That long-awaited sequel to Alien: Covenant?
Still happening, Ridley Scott says, and with Michael Fassbender’s David at the center.
In an interview with The L.A. Times, The Dog Stars filmmaker said the film “will pick up with David (Fassbender) creating a ‘brave new world for himself.’” Scott added that he’s fascinated by the homicidal android character, noting, “AIs can go off. And if they do, it’s like a bomb.”
This isn’t the first time, however, that Scott has said a sequel to the 2017 movie is in the works. The project might have to compete for a greenlight with the sequel to the 2024 hit Alien: Romulus, which is also in the pipeline at 20th Century Fox (with Romulus director Fede Álvarez stepping aside to produce). Some have speculated that, given the specific cliffhanger ending details of both films, a new film could tie up threads from both Covenant and Romulus.
The director also added that he thought the first season of Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth TV series was “pretty damn good” — which from Scott is high praise.
Scott also talked about another of his legacy franchises, Blade Runner, which has the upcoming limited series Blade Runner 2099 coming to Prime Video on Nov. 25. The director noted he’s not creatively involved with the project (though does have an executive producer credit).
“I can’t blame my lawyers and my agents at that time, but somehow we let [the rights to the] Blade Runner [franchise] go,” Scott said. “And when you’re not the author of the actual written word, you don’t have a piece.”
Speaking of AI, Scott said he doesn’t use the technology for filmmaking. “I can compete with an AI without any problem making images,” he said. “But it’s coming, inevitably.”
Scott’s The Dog Stars is post-apocalyptic science fiction film about survivors of a deadly pandemic and is based on the 2012 novel. The film opens in theaters on Friday.