Ridley Scott Says He's 'Done Enough' With the Alien Franchise: 'I Just Hope It Goes Further'

Legendary director Ridley Scott has indicated he has moved on from the Alien franchise, declaring: “I think I’ve done enough.”

The 87-year-old English film director and producer, who directed 1979’s seminal sci-fi horror Alien before reviving the franchise with 2012’s Prometheus, told ScreenRant in a recent interview: “Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further.”

Scott has left Alien in capable hands, with the successful Alien: Romulus from Fede Álvarez and FX TV series Alien: Earth from Fargo creator Noah Hawley. Alien: Romulus did so well a sequel is in the works. And there are a number of Alien crossover references in the upcoming Predator: Badlands.

In the same interview, Scott talked about how the Alien franchise dropped off after 1997’s Alien: Resurrection, and how that fueled his desire to revive the series with Prometheus. Scott followed up on Prometheus with 2017’s Alien: Covenant, where the Alien franchise was left in terms of mainline films until last year’s Alien: Romulus.

"I think I felt it was deadened after 4," he said. "I think mine was pretty damn good, and I think Jim's [Aliens director James Cameron] was good, and I have to say the rest were not very good. And I thought, 'F**k, that's the end of a franchise which should be as important as bloody Star Trek or Star Wars,' which I think is phenomenal."

He added: “A number of years after, I said, 'I'm going to resurrect this,' [and wrote] Prometheus from scratch — a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I sat then hammered out Prometheus.

"It was very present and very welcome. The audience really wanted more. I said, 'It needs to fly.' No-one was coming for it, [and] I went once again [and made] Alien Covenant, and it worked too. Where it's going now, I think I've done enough, and I just hope it goes further."

While Scott has ruled out directing another Alien movie, he was a producer on Alien: Romulus and is an executive producer on Alien: Earth via his production company, Scott Free. Speaking of Alien: Earth, its first full trailer left plenty to chew on for fans.

Photo by Mike Marsland/WireImage.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.