Currently hard at work doing post-production on Exodus: Gods And Kings, the biblical epic starring Christian Bale, Ridley Scott’s probably not heading off afterwards to a remote tropical island for a much-needed vacation. Nope, there’s no time for that. His crowded slate is brimming with a ton of exciting projects – The Martian, Blade Runner 2 and Prometheus 2.
The first Prometheus, released in 2012 divided critics and fans on account of not being everything everyone wanted it to be! While there’s definitely moments that require deeper investigation to understand (the lack of brainpower in a couple of scientists), it’s not the disaster that so many xenomorph die-hards claim it is.
Speaking to Yahoo!, the British director gave an update on the status of the sequel to the Alien prequel. The most interesting tidbit negated rumours afloat since late last year, with regards to the status of the script. If you recall, in November the script was apparently finished. Then in March, Michael Green was hired to do a rewrite. Seems it’s still in progress:
“Right now, as we speak, it’s being written,” said Scott. “I’ve had 15 drafts evolving. I definitely want to do that again because I really enjoyed doing Prometheus.”
Fifteen drafts is not unexpected, considering the possibilities and directions it could take. One familiar Alien trope it won’t hark back to though are the acid-blooded beasties. Even though much fan disdain was pointed at the lack of xenomorphs, Scott’s had enough of the slithering, hissing monsters:
“The beast is done. Cooked. I got lucky meeting [Alien designer] H.R. Giger all those years ago. It’s very hard to repeat that. I just happen to be the one who forced it through because they said it’s obscene. They didn’t want to do it and I said, ‘I want to do it, it’s fantastic’. But after four [he has conveniently forgotten the AvP movies], I think it wears out a little bit. There’s only so much snarling you can do. I think you’ve got to come back with something more interesting. And I think we’ve found the next step. I thought the Engineers were quite a good start.”
Okay, it’s understandable that there’s a need to establish a new franchise that’s inspired by and co-exists in the same world as the Aliens. Earlier talk from the man himself hinted that Prometheus had started the beginnings of a new trilogy, with its final part linking right up to the first Alien. If there’s no Aliens set to appear, that takes that intriguing storyline out of the running.
But let us not end on a gloomy note. He did offer a brief tease (ahem) at what we can expect from the sequel plot-wise, and where it’ll commence:
“You’ll probably have to go with [Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw] and [Michael Fassbender’s android David] — without his head. Find out how he gets his head back on!”
What do you think of this latest news on Prometheus 2? Gutted about the lack of aliens? Sound off below!