The famous "Alien" franchise has always been about the extraterrestrial creatures, Xenomorphs, but this might change in the next film. "Alien: Covenant" director Ridley Scott recently revealed that he plans to shift the focus of the future installments from aliens to Artificial Intelligence, which has also played a significant role throughout the franchise.
Talking to the Empire Film Podcast about the current progress of the tentatively titled "Alien: Awakening," Scott explained why the titular species are taking the back seat.
"I think the evolution of the Alien himself is nearly over, but what I was trying to do was transcend and move to another story, which would be taken over by A.I.'s," he said. "The world that the AI might create as a leader if he finds himself on a new planet. We have actually quite a big layout for the next one."
The previous film has indeed hinted the direction the franchise may potentially pursue. Michael Fassbender's David started to take center stage in the last movie, becoming the new villain of the series.
As can be recalled, David has spent years experimenting to perfect the design of the Xenomorph. After posing as his twin, Walter, in the end, he boards the ship bound to Earth with two embryos and successfully puts the humans to hibernation. The kind of world his character would create without human interference is intriguing.
Unfortunately, the sequel has yet to receive the green light from 20<sup>th Century Fox. Apparently, the studio is still reassessing the franchise. "Alien: Covenant" performed decently regarding reviews when it premiered this summer, but its box office performance put its future in doubt. It currently sits at $240 million worldwide, which about half of what "Prometheus" made.
If given another shot, however, fans can not only expect David's return but the Engineers' as well. Scott previously confirmed it for the next movie, with the story directly linking into the beginning of the original "Alien."
