Prometheus was meant to reveal the secret origin of the Xenomorphs and, while it pulled back the curtain to some extent, what we found was largely confusing and weird.
Moviegoers largely rejected what filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott clearly envisioned as a thought-provoking new approach to the Alien franchise, and he attempted to get back to basics with 2017's Alien: Covenant. Unfortunately, that was similarly underwhelming and prematurely ended Scott's prequel series plans.
During a recent interview with Empire (via Variety), the legendary filmmaker admitted he regrets helming Alien: Covenant instead of Blade Runner 2049, a movie also released in 2017.
Hailed by many as a masterpiece and the perfect sequel to Blade Runner, it was directed Denis Villeneuve and received a much better response than Scott's Alien movie. Alas, it was scheduling issues which stopped him from returning to the other sci-fi franchise which put him on the map.
"I shouldn’t have had to make that decision," he admits. "But I had to. I should have done 'Blade Runner 2.'"
It would have been special to see Scott reunite with Harrison Ford, but it's tough to imagine him delivering a movie as incredible as what Villeneuve dreamed up. Still, the director will get the chance to return to his future dystopia in Prime Video's Blade Runner 2099 series.
Scott is a producer on that and is expected to be heavily involved from a creative standpoint. The show received the green light last September but work on the show has almost inevitably stalled as a result of the WGA and SAF-AFTRA strikes.
Game of Thrones alum Jeremy Podeswa will direct the pilot episode of Blade Runner 2099, while Silka Luisa (Shining Girls) is on board as showrunner and executive producer. Few plot details have been revealed, though it will serve as a follow-up to Blade Runner 2049.
It's always fun to think about what might have been. Had Scott not made Covenant, there's a chance Neill Blomkamp might have even been able to bring his vision for Alien 5 to the screen...