It was already well known that Prometheus director Ridley Scott was eager to get started on a sequel to his 2012 sci-fi thriller — which was itself a prequel to his groundbreaking 1979 film Alien — and now it appears as if he has an even grander plan in mind for the cosmic horror franchise he created.
In a recent interview, Scott indicated that it will take several more Prometheus sequels before that series links up with the events in Alien and brings the entire continuity in line.
While promoting his upcoming film The Martian, Scott told German movie site FilmFutter that it could take four Prometheus films for a direct connection to be made to Alien.
Asked whether the timeline of the Prometheus movies would eventually lead to the ill-fated expedition of the Nostromo chronicled in the 1979 film, Scott indicated that it would, with a caveat.
“It won’t be in the next one,” explained Scott (as translated from German by Coming Soon). “It will be in the one after this one or maybe even a fourth film before we get back into the Alien franchise.”
“The whole point of it is to explain the Alien franchise and to explain the how and why of the creation of the Alien itself,” he added. “I always thought of the Alien as kind of a piece of bacterial warfare. I always thought that that original ship, which I call the Croissant, was a battleship, holding these biomechanoid creatures that were all about destruction.”
As it stands now, Prometheus 2 is expected to begin filming in February with Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace reprising their roles as the android David and scientist Elizabeth Shaw, respectively. Another installment in the Alien series is also currently being developed, with District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp attached to direct.