Details on the developing sequel to Sir Ridley Scott’s Prometheus continue to drop at a furious rate. As he does publicity for next week’s The Martian, Sir Ridley has revealed that the new title, Alien: Paradise Lost, connects directly to the sci-fi franchise he launched more than 35 years ago. And now, we’re learning why that will be the case.
Ridley Scott was interviewed on the red carpet for The Martian by the UK outlet Hey You Guys, and was asked point blank why Prometheus 2 now has a title that blatantly connects it to the Alien mythology. And Scott explained his reasoning, stating,
Well, because we're heading back to why and how and when the beast was invented. We'll go back into the back door of the very first Alien that I did thirty years ago.
The "beast" in question, of course, is the xenomorph, a creation of the Engineers who we first met in Ridley Scott’s 1979 epic Alien… and who has been a cause of concern for Sigourney Weaver (and countless others) ever since. As we explained in our multi-part analysis of the end of Prometheus, two main characters – Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David (Michael Fassbender) – embarked on a mission to trace the roots of the Engineers back to their source. But as the end credits rolled, Ridley Scott treated us to the "birth" of a proto-xenomorph. Remember this?
There’s definitely a gap in the timeline between the ending of Prometheus and the begging of Alien, and this new film – now called Alien: Paradise Lost -- will exists in that void. Ridley Scott has been teasing that there could be multiple sequels still to come, and so the ending of Paradise Lost may not directly connect to Alien. At the same time, Scott is approaching 80 years of age. How many Alien films does he have left in him?
Here are Scott’s comments:
What do you think? Was it wise to adopt a title that leans on the Alien brand? Will this next film be the one that closes the gap between Scott’s seminal Alien movie, and these latest efforts? Weigh in below.
