Ridley Scott Wants the Next ‘Alien’ Movie to Focus on Artificial Intelligence Instead of the Xenomorph

Big things have small beginnings. They also have lots of sequels and prequels. Ridley Scott shows no signs of slowing down after “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” though he says that the next installment in his enduring science-fiction franchise will focus less on the xenomorph and more on artificial intelligence.

“I think the evolution of the Alien himself is nearly over, but what I was trying to do was transcend and move to another story, which would be taken over by A.I.s,” he tells Empire in a new podcast interview. “The world that the A.I. might create as a leader if he finds himself on a new planet. We have actually quite a big layout for the next one.”

One might reasonably conclude that this means David, the philosophical (and homicidal) android played by Michael Fassbender, will continue to anchor this new strain of the “Alien” mythos. Elsewhere in artificial intelligence, Scott just produced “Blade Runner 2049,” a sequel to the sci-fi classic he directed after “Alien.”