Almost a decade after Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott says he’s making a third prequel, which will again focus on Michael Fassbender’s David. Ridley Scott is again planning a return to the Alien universe, continuing threads he left behind with 2017’s Alien: Covenant. All of a sudden, the seemingly abrupt cessation of work on a sequel ... Alien: Covenant 2 | Ridley Scott says he’s working on a third prequel
Almost a decade after Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott says he’s making a third prequel, which will again focus on Michael Fassbender’s David.
Ridley Scott is again planning a return to the Alien universe, continuing threads he left behind with 2017’s Alien: Covenant. All of a sudden, the seemingly abrupt cessation of work on a sequel to 2024’s Alien: Romulus makes perfect sense – but more on that in a moment.
First, we have the ever-industrious Scott, who has his post-apocalyptic sci-fi fable The Dog Stars in cinemas this week. In a conversation with the LA Times, Scott talked about his slate of other films, which is dizzyingly ambitious for any filmmaker, let alone one well into his 80s.
There’s Treasure Island, which he hopes to embark on next. He still wants to make the Bee Gees biopic that stalled at Paramount. And he’s interested in adapting Covenant With Death, a novel set in World War I.
Most pertinently for this news story, Scott says he’s also working on a third Alien prequel, following on from 2012’s Prometheus and 2017’s Alien: Covenant. Like those earlier films, it’ll focus on the gene-splicing, human-hating antics of renegade android David (Michael Fassbender). Anyone who remembers the final shots of Covenant will recall that it left things wide open for a continuation of that same story, which at some point would dovetail with the events of 1979’s original Alien.
Scott’s sequel to Alien: Covenant would see David forging a “brave new world for himself,” Scott said.
It’s a further sign that the veteran filmmaker is more interested in androids and artificial intelligence than the titular alien. “AIs can go off,” he told the LA Times. “And if they do, it’s like a bomb.”
Unfortunately for the Alien franchise, directors can also go off.
Alien: Romulus was a decent-sized hit in 2024, and in the aftermath, 20th Century Studios appeared to be fast-tracking a sequel, again directed by Fede Alvarez. Instead, Alvarez departed rather abruptly in 2025, and what seemed to be a dead-cert suddenly fell into what looks from the outside like production limbo.
The rumour was that Alvarez wanted to write David into his sequel, and that Scott shot the idea down because he wanted to hold onto the character for his own movie.
Scott has kept a close creative eye on the Alien franchise in recent years; Neill Blomkamp had plans to direct a direct sequel to Aliens, which was mysteriously cancelled in favour of Alien: Covenant.
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He’s also an executive producer on TV’s Alien: Earth, and Alien Romulus’s story was also given a once-over by Scott. It contains a number of nods to Prometheus that no doubt pleased the director.
(There have also been rumours of an Alien project written by No One Will Save You and Whalefall's Brian Duffield. It’s currently unclear what the status of it is, whether it’s Alien: Romulus 2 or an entirely separate venture.)
The question is, will Alien: Covenant 2 ever get made? The previous film wasn’t a hit – hence the soft reboot that was Romulus. As we’ve already seen, Scott has a number of other projects on his docket, and even at the pace he shoots, Treasure Island will keep him busy for at least a year.
The film’s greenlight may also hinge on how The Dog Stars does in the coming days. Reviews have been middling at best so far, and with it being a non-franchise film released while Spider-Man: Brand New Day is sucking all the oxygen up in cinemas, it may struggle to find the audience it needs.
20th Century Studios has bankrolled The Dog Stars’ estimated $110m budget; should it fail to recoup that cost, it may think twice about giving Scott the go-ahead on a risky Alien spin-off.
Alien: Romulus 2 is showing little sign of movement; ironically, the film that killed its momentum may face an uphill struggle of its own.
