Currently being put together under the watchful eye of director Ridley Scott, Prometheus is shaping up to be a grown-up, intense science fiction movie, and one that no small amount of money is being spent on.

The early gestation of the project, as you probably know, was that this was to be the long-mooted prequel to Alien, with Scott returning to the franchise that he effectively launched. However, it was announced, deep into development, that this would be a standalone movie, albeit one in the Alien universe, and still set before the first film.

So, how did all of this happen? Well, Damon Lindelof, who worked on the script, has been chatting to Kevin Pollak on his chat show, and thrown some more light on the process.

“There is a real issue which is – what is the state of the Alien franchise at this point in our lives?” he said. “There has been Alien vs. Predator and all these things, and it’s been completely and totally diluted.