In 1979, Ridley Scott took a trip into a nightmarish region of space (fuelled by the real nightmares of H.R. Giger) and returned with a petrified crew and an extra passenger they’d rather not have picked up. “Alien” changed horror science fiction forever, demonstrating Scott as a capable and occasionally ingenious filmmaker bring a scary story to life that was caked in acid blood and broken rib cages.
Almost 40 years later, Scott returned to the universe of the perfect organism to explore how it came to be in “Prometheus.” The hype was astronomical, courtesy of the star-studded cast, including Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, and Michael Fassbender, in a tale that was said to not be a direct prequel to “Alien,” but rather share “strands of the DNA” with the franchise.
Bound to the original horror or not, “Prometheus” was met with a divisive reception, with some in awe of the polished space story that dared to ask where we came from, while the majority hoped for more alien activity of the Xenomorph variety. “They wanted to see more of the original [monster], and I thought he was definitely cooked, with an orange in his mouth,” Scott told Yahoo! “So I thought: ‘Wow, OK, I’m wrong’.” From here, a course correction was made for the franchise, not because of audience demands, but because the response confirmed what Scott had always questioned.
The fallout of Prometheus confirmed what Scott had always questioned about the Alien franchise
Littered with as many misses as undeniable hits in his career, Scott has always been a director who has stuck to his guns and remained focused on the stories he’s wanted to tell. Even so, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker revealed that there have often been moments of uncertainty he’s left the audience to address and clarify.
“The fans, in a funny kind of way – they’re not the final word – but they are the reflection of your doubts about something, and then you realise ‘I was wrong’ or ‘I was right,'” Scott explained. “I think that’s where it comes in. I think you’re not sensible if you don’t actually take [the fans’ reaction] into account.”
In 2017, Scott tied the threads of “Prometheus” back to the Xenomorph with “Alien: Covenant,” but by this point, the franchise was floundering once again. It was in 2024 that the series got a necessary jolt from Fede Álvarez’s “Alien: Romulus,” which was tailor-made for those who held the monster so close to their chest. By 2025, Scott told Screen Rant that, whatever the future held for the lifeform, he was taking a back seat from it. “Where it’s going now, I think I’ve done enough, and I just hope it goes further.” We hope so too, but at the same time, we can never forget the man who helped it come into being.
