Despite the fact that he’s on the press tour for next month’s The Martian, Ridley Scott just can’t keep a lid on his next project, Aliens: Paradise Lost (formerly Prometheus 2). The followup to his 2012 return to science fiction crammed a lot into a couple hours- Ancient Alien theory, hubris, artificial intelligence, religion, fathers vs. sons and the Judeo-Christian creation of man. Also, Xenomorphs.
There were a lot of complaints with the first Prometheus film that it was a narrative that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be and that the inclusion of the iconic aliens muddied the waters of what was intended to be the story of the Engineers. Whether you agree with that or not, Scott is determined to pursue a more unified universe that draws in his Alien franchise and what was established with Prometheus closer together, “In a way it is Prometheus 2. It’s exactly the same story. But it was always in the works to be called that [Alien: Paradise Lost]. Is Prometheus actually taking us off course from where I’m going, which is actually backing into the first Alien… I’ve even got connections with Ripley [in this], but I’m not telling you what.”
Milton’s Paradise Lost was a central theme in the last film, so it’s no surprise that Scott has chosen to hammer the connection more firmly by naming the new project after the 17th century poem, especially as it relates to Michael Fassbender’s character David, who will be returning along with Noomi Rapace’s Shaw.
With regards to Blomkamp’s Alien 5 film, Ridley had this to say, “I’m producing it. The design is for it to go out next, after this. This will go out first. It’s more associated with Ripley, it’s a completely different angle, it’s more of a sequel. I’m coming in from the back end.”
