Rumors have been flying for a while now, but intensified a couple days ago with reports that a director had been signed. Well Collider cornered Tony Scott at a junket for The Taking of Pelham 123 and got confirmation. Carl Rinsch, a commercials director for Tony and Ridley Scott’s RSA, is attached to direct a prequel of some kind to Alien. Tony Scott and Ridley Scott are producing. The plan is for it to go into production before year’s end.
I can’t even begin to fathom what a prequel might involve. I mean, ignoring the Alien vs Predator duo, the franchise was about Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley and her story definitely starts in Alien. Are we going to find out how that other alien ship crashed on LV-426? Do we care? If we really need a new film with the xenomorphs and you’re not going to have Sigourney Weaver, don’t even try and connect it to those films at all. Just create a wholly new scenario where people encounter the xenomorphs. The idea of a prequel of any sense reminds me of The Thing‘s prequel that’s in development that takes place at the Norweigan camp. It’d just be pointless. Hopefully since Ridley Scott is producing he won’t let anything too stupid come about and tarnish his classic original.
