Alien: Awakening - Is It Happening?
In 2012, Ridley Scott took the "Alien" franchise in a bold — and controversial — new direction. "Prometheus" may not have been a roaring success with the critics, but it nevertheless scored an impressive $400 million at the global box office. Five years later, Scott helmed "Alien: Covenant," a less off-piste (and, let's face it, less good) sequel that underperformed both critically and financially. Nevertheless, "Covenant" ended on a cliffhanger-of-sorts, with David (Michael Fassbender) forcing Daniels (Katherine Waterston) into cryostasis before placing a pair of facehugger embryos into cold storage.
And then ... nothing. Despite the open-ended conclusion of "Covenant," Scott has yet to return to the "Alien" universe, and the final installment in the franchise's prequel trilogy simply never emerged. So what went wrong? Why haven't we seen this story's conclusion hit theaters, and will it happen at all? Of course, it's hard to say for sure — but that doesn't mean we can't make a decent guess.
Why hasn't Alien: Awakening happened yet?
Ridley Scott first hinted at a sequel to "Alien: Covenant" back in 2017, just days before the movie's U.S. release. In an interview with Fandango, Scott suggested he was already preparing to work on the third "Alien" prequel — and he even appeared to reveal its title. "It will go 'Prometheus,' 'Awakening,' 'Covenant,'" he said, when asked where it might fit into the saga's timeline. A kind of interquel between "Prometheus" and "Covenant" makes for a curious proposition, no doubt; sadly, we never found out how it might all come together.
Why? Well, much happened between then and now. "Covenant" disappointed at the box office, for one thing. In December 2017, a user claiming to be a crew member on "Covenant" claimed on the Blu-Ray.com forums (via AVP Galaxy) that 20th Century halted pre-production on "Awakening" shortly after "Covenant" hit theaters. "So the original plan of pumping out another quickly has definitely changed with no immediate plans for anything," they added.
A couple of years later, Disney purchased 20th Century Fox from media magnate Rupert Murdoch. In the aftermath, Disney canceled a slew of Fox's TV and film projects, and while "Awakening" has never been named as one of them, we've had no indication that it survived, either. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott's 2020 first-look deal with Apple TV, the director's busy upcoming release slate, and Disney's announcement of two standalone "Alien" projects (more on them later) only seemed to substantiate an unfortunate truth: "Alien: Awakening" is dead in the water.
Everything Ridley Scott has said about Alien: Awakening
It's probably fair to say that, without Ridley Scott, "Alien: Awakening" will never happen. Both "Prometheus" and "Covenant" were very much Scott's (chest-bursting) babies, and the chances of a new director joining the franchise to helm a third prequel stand at close to zero. With that in mind, you can learn a lot from what he has said — or not said — about "Awakening" in recent years.
Scott first mentioned "Alien: Awakening" in his 2017 interview with Fandango. After that, however, he went quiet on the subject. Only in 2020, about a month after news of his Apple TV deal landed in the press, did he allude to the "Covenant" sequel once more, telling The Los Angeles Times that there was still "a lot of mileage" in the "Alien" franchise. Around the same time, he told Forbes that another movie was still "in process," adding, "We went down a route to try and reinvent the wheel with 'Prometheus' and 'Covenant' ... But you know, you're asking fundamental questions like, 'Has the Alien himself, the facehugger, the chestburster, have they all run out of steam? Do you have to rethink the whole bloody thing and simply use the word franchise?' That's always the fundamental question."
It's obviously reassuring to hear that Scott hasn't gone completely cold on "Alien: Awakening" (or at least, he hadn't in 2020) but let's not kid ourselves: He doesn't exactly seem brimming with enthusiasm — and the fact that he's said nothing about it since doesn't kindle much hope.
What could happen in Alien: Awakening?
Often, very little is known about the plot of a film left languishing in development hell, especially since, most of the time, the script is constantly rewritten as new writers flit in and out of the project. That said, we do know a little about one version of the "Awakening" story.
In 2018, Empire reported that both Ridley Scott and "Alien: Covenant" screenwriter John Logan had already mapped out the story of the third "Alien" prequel. Apparently, "Awakening" would see David journey to LV-426, the planet Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the Nostromo crew visit at the beginning of "Alien." Empire also claims "Awakening" would mark the return of the Engineers; the publication's report suggests that the survivors of the species would set out to hunt down David, most likely to exact revenge for destroying Paradise in "Covenant."
Since nobody has any idea what state "Awakening" is currently in, however, it's more or less impossible to say how much of this original premise remains intact — if there's anything left at all. Still, if "Awakening" does ever come to fruition, we can probably make a few assumptions about what the story will involve: David, a rag-tag bunch of humans, a Xenomorph or two, and a whole lot of death and destruction.
Who will be the stars of Alien: Awakening?
Like pretty much every movie in the "Alien" franchise, "Prometheus" and "Covenant" featured very little overlap in their casts, and there's no reason to believe "Awakening" would be any different. We can safely assume, of course, Michael Fassbender's return as the genocidal android David. In 2019, Fassbender told Bad Taste that he'd "love to" return to the "Alien" franchise. "I love the character," he said. "It's a lot of fun."
Katherine Waterson, whose character, Daniels, was one of two survivors at the end of "Covenant," has also said she would come back for another movie. In 2019, she told The Playlist that, although there had been no talk with Ridley Scott about a "Covenant" sequel, she would be "absolutely game" to do more. "But that's all I know," she added. "I'm sure they've changed their minds anyway."
Aside from that, who can say? Any number of actors could turn up in a potential third "Alien" prequel. One person who we can definitively rule out, however, is Sigourney Weaver, who told Total Film as recently as April 2023 that she is entirely finished with the "Alien" franchise. "That ship has sailed," Weaver said. "I'm very happy doing what I'm doing. I put in my time in space!"
Into the future
Little evidence for the untimely death of "Alien: Awakening" is quite so convincing as the existence of Disney's two upcoming "Alien" projects.
In December 2020, Variety reported that "Legion" and "Fargo" showrunner Noah Hawley had signed up to bring an "Alien" TV series to FX. (Ridley Scott later came on as producer.) The network's chief John Landrag also revealed that the series will take place on Earth and blend the "timeless horror of the first 'Alien' film with the non-stop action of the second." Pre-production started in earnest soon after, and while roadblocks have appeared — namely, the SAG-AFTRA strike forcing production to work around its lead cast — things appear to be on track for a release sometime in the next couple of years.
Meanwhile, "Don't Breathe" and "Evil Dead" filmmaker Fede Álvarez is currently knee-deep in his own standalone "Alien" movie, which, according to production leaks, appears to be titled "Alien: Romulus." According to 20th Century Studios (via Variety), "Romulus" follows "a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe." Production began on March 9, 2023, with the movie set for a theatrical release on August 16, 2024.
Clearly, Disney has its hands full with other "Alien" ideas for the time being. While these are standalone projects, divorced from the narrative of Ridley Scott's prequels, their success would likely spur a number of sequels, spin-offs, or prequels of their own. If that happens, you can probably bid farewell to any chance of ever getting to see "Alien: Awakening."