Ridley Scott hints that Prometheus sequel will be next

Buried in the profile of The Martian director Ridley Scott that appears in the September issue of Total Film magazine was this nugget about what might be his next film: “He begins shooting Prometheus 2 in January.”

The original Prometheus was a return to the world Scott first created with 1979’s Alien. It wasn’t a direct sequel or prequel, but it expanded the Alien mythology and left room for subsequent follow-ups to perhaps bridge the gaps between two franchises. Noomi Rapace played a scientist who travels to the interplanetary home of some extinct civilization that might be the answer to man’s own origins, only to discover that a familiar danger lurks. Michael Fassbender played the android whose own mission might differ from what his human handlers expect.

Scott expressed a renewed enthusiasm for the genre, which is reflected by his work on The Martian. “I’ve got back into the science-fiction thing,” he told the magazine. “I kind of adore it.” Hence, Denis Villeneuve’s in-the-works Blade Runner sequel, a new Alien sequel from Distict 9‘s Neill Blomkamp, and the previously mentioned Prometheus follow-up that Scott will direct himself. In August, he told EW, “I’ve got a lot of ducks in a row. But they’re all written.”

Back in March, there were also reports that Green Lantern screenwriter Michael Green was rewriting a Prometheus 2 script that featured more aliens and more android Fassbenders. But a source close to the project tells EW that despite those encouraging previous reports, the script is still being worked on and January might be an overly optimistic start-date. That said, it still could be Scott’s next movie and early 2016 is still a feasible goal.