Ridley Scott to direct Alien prequel

Variety have confirmed that Ridley Scott will return to the Alien franchise to direct an Alien prequel.

Twentieth Century Fox is resuscitating its “Alien” franchise. The studio has hired Jon Spaihts to write a prequel that has Ridley Scott attached to return as director.

Spaihts got the job after pitching the studio and Scott Free, which will produce the film.

The film is set up to be a prequel to the groundbreaking 1979 film that Scott directed. It will precede that film, in which the crew of a commercial towing ship returning to Earth is awakened and sent to respond to a distress signal from a nearby planetoid. The crew discovers too late that the signal generated by an empty ship was meant to warn them.

The deal gives Fox another chance to keep the “Alien” franchise alive. There were three sequels to Scott’s original, but it is the first time the director has set his mind on directing one.

There had been speculation Ridley Scott would direct the prequel, and now it has finally been confirmed. Scott directed Alien in 1979 and it spawned three sequels – James Cameron’s Aliens in 1986, David Fincher’s Alien 3 in 1992 and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection in 1997. We then got Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (but we can forget about them).