Ridley Scott Says He’s “Done Enough” With Alien (But Has Big Hopes For the Franchise’s Future)

Ridley Scott will still be eagerly awaiting new Alien movies, but he doesn’t plan on working on any more of them himself. The 87-year-old director launched the franchise in 1979, and he returned for two prequel movies decades later — Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. After producing last year’s Alien: Romulus, there was some talk of Scott returning to the franchise to direct a third prequel more, or perhaps something else in this setting. However, this weekend Scott laid those hopes to rest when he told ScreenRant that he doesn’t see another xenomorph in his future. He said simply that he feels he’s “done enough” with this franchise.

“I think I felt it was deadened after 4,” Scott said, referring to the fourth Alien movie, Alien Resurrection. “I think mine was pretty damn good, and I think [James Cameron’s] was good, and I have to say the rest were not very good. And I thought, ‘F—, that’s the end of a franchise which should be as important as bloody Star Trek or Star Wars,’ which I think is phenomenal. At least, I think the first one by George is seminal – it was as seminal as 2001.”

Scott went on to reminisce about the state of the sci-fi genre back in 1979, and his mindset in making Alien. He recalled how unlikely of a production it was, and even less likely to be a success with a long legacy. He pointed out that he was not the studio’s first choice to direct the movie, yet against all odds, he helped set up one of the most iconic sci-fi stories of our time.

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“So that’s where I went, and then it died,” he said. “A number of years after, I said, ‘I’m going to resurrect this,’ [and wrote] Prometheus from scratch — a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I sat then hammered out Prometheus. It was very present and very welcome. The audience really wanted more. I said, ‘It needs to fly.’ No one was coming for it, [and] I went once again [and made] Alien Covenant, and it worked too. Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further.”

Scott’s hopes seem to be well-placed after the unexpected response to Romulus last year, and the anticipation for the new streaming series Alien: Earth, which premiers on Hulu on August 12th. He’s an executive producer on that series, and at recently as last year, there were reports that he was helping to develop another Alien prequel movie. It’s unclear if that project is finished, scrapped, or Scott is simply not working on it anymore, based on his comments.

All seven Alien movies streaming now on Hulu, for those that want to look back at the franchise’s legacy for themselves. Alien: Earth premieres there on August 12th.