Ridley Scott on the set of Alien: Covenant. Image: Fox

With Alien: Covenant coming out next week, lots of people have been discussing or revisiting the film that came before it: Prometheus. That even includes the director of both films, Ridley Scott, who admitted fan reaction to Prometheus influenced Covenant.


When asked what made him decide to reintroduce the star of the Alien franchise, the Xenomorph, into Covenant (after not appearing in Prometheus) Scott told Yahoo Movies “The reaction to Prometheus.”

It went straight up there, and we discovered from it that [the fans] were really frustrated. They wanted to see more of the original [monster] and I thought he was definitely cooked, with an orange in his mouth. So I thought: ‘Wow, OK, I’m wrong’.


So Covenant takes the characters and events from Prometheus and links them to the iconic monster, who looms large over the new film. Scott continued:

The fans, in a funny kind of way – they’re not the final word – but they are the reflection of your doubts about something. And then you realize ‘I was wrong’ or ‘I was right’. I think that’s where it comes in. I think you’re not sensible if you don’t actually take [the fans’ reaction] into account.

So pat yourself on the back if you said the biggest problem with Prometheus was the fact it didn’t have the alien in it. Ridley Scott heard you. Now, it’ll be interesting to follow how fans react to the way the alien is reintroduced in Covenant and how, or if, that will change the “maybe two more” Alien films the director wants to make.

Alien: Covenant opens May 19.

[Yahoo Movies]