"The Martian," the latest film by director Ridley Scott, is already gaining a lot of critical praise, and the helmer is now set to begin production for his next film, "Prometheus 2." However, in an interview with German site FilmFutter (via The Guardian), Scott confirmed that the franchise won't stop there and will have several sequels down the line.
According to the director, this plan of doing more "Prometheus" films will also affect how the connection between these films and the "Alien" franchise will play out. It was formerly believed that the origins of the alien xenomorph would be shown in "Prometheus," but the ending of the film only showed an early prototype creature.
Scott stated that the origins of the xenomorph won't even be in "Prometheus 2."
"It won't be in the next one," said Scott. "It will be in the one after this one or maybe even a fourth film before we get back into the 'Alien' franchise."
He continued to explain that the whole point of doing the "Prometheus" franchise is to explore the origins of the xenomorphs. Those who have seen the film will recall that the first "Prometheus" also presented the Engineers and showed how they created humankind, although their purpose in creating and attempting to destroy humans has not yet been answered.
Scott stated that he always envisioned the alien/ xenomorph as a form of bacterial warfare. He then stated that the Engineer spacecraft — which he referred to as the Croissant — seen in the first "Alien" film is a battleship that houses "biomechanoid creatures" that are solely for destruction.
To further complicate the intertwining plot threads of "Prometheus" and "Alien," director Neill Blomkamp will be working on a fifth "Alien" film that will be released after "Prometheus 2." There are speculations on whether this new film will follow or ignore the events in "Alien 3" and "Alien Resurrection."
