Ridley Scott has revealed that his long-planned sequel to 2017’s Alien: Covenant is once again in the works.

Speaking with the LA Times, the director explains that the film will follow Michael Fassbender’s AI villain, David, creating a “brave new world for himself.”

The film would conclude Scott’s prequel trilogy following Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). Production on the third instalment initially stalled after Covenant underperformed at the box office, lingering in development hell until a spin-off, Alien: Romulus — set between the original film and its sequel, Aliens (1986) — was released in 2024. The director has been vocal about his intention to conclude his prequel films by segueing directly into the original Alien.

Arriving at least a decade after Covenant, Scott’s third prequel would have an added resonance given the increasing integration of AI technologies into everyday life. The director has explored the topic throughout his career, notably in another sci-fi classic, Blade Runner, and remains fascinated with Fassbender’s villain. “AIs can go off,” Scott said. “And if they do, it’s like a bomb.”

Despite his interest in the subject, Scott maintains that he does not want to integrate AI technologies into his filmmaking practices. “The uneasy question is: Can the AI only be as good as the information fed into it?” he said. “If I say ‘Here’s a blank canvas, write me such and such,’ would that just be a melange of millions of other scripts? Probably. But the danger is it’ll pass that point and become smarter than we are.”