Why is Ridley Scott suddenly back in the Alien business?

In Alien: Covenant, Scott is opening up his original creation and seeing what makes it tick

Alien: Covenant
(Image credit: Mark Rogers)

For its first 30 or so years of existence, the Alien series, whatever its ups or downs, was a model of franchise-by-auteur. By most accounts, this was an accident of behind-the-scenes growing pains as much as a creative ethos. But it was an accident that resulted in each entry being made by a different and distinct filmmaker: Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet made four vastly different movies out of similar material. Even a disreputable cash-grab crossover movie during a low ebb for the series, Alien vs. Predator, is very much the product of its B-movie maestro, Paul W.S. Anderson.

But in 2012, Ridley Scott, director of the 1979 original, returned to the series. Scott's hotly anticipated Prometheus was a prequel to Alien; it didn't exactly feature the iconic multi-mouthed creature designed by H.R. Giger, but explored the origins of early forms of that creature. Now Scott and the creature have returned for Alien: Covenant, part sequel (to Prometheus) and part prequel (to Alien, again).

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Jesse Hassenger

Jesse Hassenger's film and culture criticism has appeared in The Onion's A.V. Club, Brooklyn Magazine, and Men's Journal online, among others. He lives in Brooklyn, where he also writes fiction, edits textbooks, and helps run SportsAlcohol.com, a pop culture blog and podcast.