Ridley Scott isn’t done with the Alien franchise. The director recently gave a promising update on a new installment in the film series.
In a Los Angeles Times interview published on August 26, Ridley Scott confirmed that he is developing a third Alien prequel. Fans have been waiting for a new prequel since the release of Alien: Covenant in 2017, which featured Michael Fassbender as the two androids, David 8 and Walter One.
Scott said that the upcoming prequel will pick the story up with David creating a “brave new world for himself.” Further details about the movie’s development are still under wraps.
Why Ridley Scott never gave up on David
Speaking with the LA Times, Ridley Scott said that he is fascinated by the character of David. He is a malfunctioning AI that highlights the dangers and unreliability of the technology.
“AIs can go off,” Scott said. “And if they do, it’s like a bomb.” The filmmaker has previously explored the theme of AI in multiple projects, long before the technology became a major topic of discussion in Hollywood and other creative industries.
The AI robots in his Alien films and in Blade Runner closely resemble humans. However, the filmmaker clarified that he prefers to make movies about AI rather than implementing the technology in his work.
“The uneasy question is: Can the AI only be as good as the information fed into it?,” Scott reflected. “If I say ‘Here’s a blank canvas, write me such and such,’ would that just be a melange of millions of other scripts? Probably. But the danger is it’ll pass that point and become smarter than we are.”
Scott now aims to revisit the character of David in his upcoming Alien prequel, hopefully expanding the villainous AI’s intentions and the consequences of his experiments. However, there have been no official updates regarding the movie’s development yet.
