TheAlienfranchise has a fairly complicated lore with plenty of tie-in video games and comic books that often contradict each other, but this has never taken away from the greatness of the individual projects. Ridley Scott’s original film is a masterclass in horror filmmaking, James Cameron’s follow-up was a dynamic action showcase, and later sequels likePrometheusare hugely underratedand filled with innovative sci-fi storytelling. However,Prometheusis also a highly divisive filmwhose place in theAliencanon has been widely debated thanks to the changes it makes to the franchise’s lore.
Many audiences have claimed thatPrometheusshould’ve started a new franchisealtogether, which could easily have avoided the canon problems that accompanied the lore changes. But truth be told,the film is so deeply entrenched in Ridley Scott’s worldthat this never would have worked.PrometheusandAlien: Covenantare deeply ambitious projects that aren’t afraid to take audiences outside their comfort zone, but they can also be somewhat convoluted and don’t always make the details of story clear enough. Thankfully, theAlienfranchise is now being forced to decide whetherPrometheuscan truly be considered canon.
Alien: Earth Will Have To Acknowledge Or Contradict Prometheus
There’s No Running Away From Canon Any Longer
Alien: Earthis the latest entry in theAlienfranchise, an upcoming television show that takes place approximately one year before the events ofPrometheus.It follows the crew of a mysterious vessel that crash-lands on Earth, making a dangerous discovery in the process and putting the whole planet at risk. The most interesting thing aboutAlien: Earthis the project’s timeline-it seemingly takes place beforePrometheus, but there will undoubtedly be Xenomorphs involved somehow. On the surface, this seems impossible without erasingPrometheusfrom the franchise’s canon.
Prometheus Continued A Problematic Ridley Scott Career Trend That’s Still Going On In 2024
Prometheus represents Ridley Scott’s efforts to retroactively change key elements of his greatest movie. It’s not the first time this has happened.
Prometheusfollows a group of scientists who travel to a distant corner of the universe and encounter the Engineers, an alien species responsible for the creation of humans. While there, the scientists come into contact with a mysterious “Black Goo” that impregnates one of the crewmates, forming a creature that later becomes an early version of the Xenomorph. This idea is later explored inAlien: Covenant, as the protagonist David experiments on these creatures and furthers their evolution.Alien: Earthseems to suggest that Xenomorphs existed before this happened, which would essentially retcon both movies.
There’s No Way An Alien Prequel Set On Earth Doesn’t Intersect With Prometheus
The Setting Is Too Much Of A Coincidence
Presumably,Alien: Earthonly takes place shortly before the events ofPrometheus. Of all the possible dates for the project, that seems like either a huge coincidence or an intentional choice, leading many to speculate that the two properties could actually be connected in some way. Both stories begin on Earth and include Xenomorphs in some fashion, so it seems unlikely that they’re going to be totally separate. This makes the canon issues even more important -if they’re connected, it’s crucial that they don’t contradict one another.
If there is already a Xenomorph on Earth during the events ofPrometheus, the entire story of that prequel falls apart. Not only would David’s experiments make no sense, but Weyland-Yutani would have no reason to send their scientists to the Engineers in the first place - there must have been some contact in the past already.Alien: Earthhas teased a new role for the Xenomorph, which suggests thatthings may not be as black-and-white as expected, but it’s going to take some serious work to make these two projects exist on the same timeline.
Alien: Romulus Avoided Any Major Connections To Prometheus
The Successful Sequel Steered Clear Of Being Too Connected
While it’s great to have an expansive universe with several projects that all connect to each other, there comes a certain point where it’s easier to keep the sequels and prequels disconnected. This has become the case withAlien, which has plenty of great movies under its belt, but it’s the constant attempts to connect everything together that ruins much of the storytelling. That’s exactly whyAlien: Romulusworked so well -it made no unnecessary attempts to follow on from the prequelsor lead into the sequels, but rather picked a quiet spot on the timeline and stayed there.
There were mentions of the “Black Goo” inAlien: Romulusthat proved it was connected somehow, but it made no major changes to the lore that would jeopardize its legitimacy in the canon.
There were mentions of the “Black Goo” inAlien: Romulusthat proved it was connected somehow, but it made no major changes to the lore that would jeopardize its legitimacy in the canon. This is the safest way of making anAliensequel, and there’s an argument to be made thatAlien: Earthcould have adopted the same approach- this way, it could tell its story without running the risk of ruiningPrometheus.
Even ifAlien: EarthandPrometheusmanage to coexist,this will only have meant extra work.Surely it would be easier and more efficient forAlien: Earthto have a less controversial setting, which would give the writers more creative freedom and allow them to tell the story they want without worrying about the effects it would have on stories that came before. Instead,Alien: Earthrisks a huge retconthat could damage the legitimacy of the canon all the same.
Should Prometheus & Covenant Be Retconned Out Of The Alien Timeline?
Alien: Earth Could Remove Them From The Canon For Good
Ever sincePrometheusandAlien: Covenantwere released, there’s been an ongoing conversation regarding their place in theAliencanon. The decision to make the Xenomorphs a product of the Engineers was an extremely controversial one, and many fans weren’t happy with the way it changed the lore so dramatically. Since then,Alienhas managed to work around the complications caused byPrometheus, butsome believe that the two prequels should simply be written out of the timelinein order to make it simpler and less open to plot holes.
However,PrometheusandCovenantare both extremely interesting films that have lots of strengths: they’re ambitious, they’re bold, and they break away from the formula of the original films.This is something that should be celebrated, not ignored.They gave theAlienfranchise a much more dynamic and philosophical edge that was never present in the original series, and retconning them from the timeline would be a massive waste of some fascinating ideas.
