Damon Lindelof took a beating after Prometheus. Some, myself included, would say it was an unfair slamming. Yet, when Sir Ridley Scott’s supposed Alien prequel arrived with more questions than answers, the rally cry mounted by anonymous ranters on Twitter and in message boards was similar to the overheated “George Lucas raped my childhood” statements that followed the Star Wars prequel trilogies.
Needless to say, when it comes to writing a planned Prometheus sequel, Lindelof’s quick to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Speaking with Collider, the Lost co-creator and frequent screenwriter says:
The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it. And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in. The idea of building a sequel to it -- from the ground up this time -- with Ridley is tremendously exciting. But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.”So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff. And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.” And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.” He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him. But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.”
I admire Lindelof’s self-deprecating humor, as well as his ability to stay in touch with the pop-culture zeitgeist. He knows that fans had issues with his Prometheus script, and he has never hid behind a curtain. He often addresses concerns on social media, and is great about speaking openly about his involvement in the next chapter.
As you likely remember, Lindelof and Scott teased an obvious step for a Prometheus sequel, which I won’t spell out here in case you still haven’t seen the film. And while Scott has committed to a ton of potential projects, it does sound like he’s engaged in following through with the plotline that was hinted at in the final Prometheus scenes. So, with Lindelof passing on the potential sequel, whom do you think Scott should approach to hammer out his script?
