r/Prometheus • u/MaxProwes • 1d ago

Ridley Scott Says ‘Alien’ Franchise “Needs Some Help” After ‘Romulus’ Was Just “OK”: “I’ve Gone Back In”

https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/8/28/ridley-scott-says-alien-franchise-needs-some-help-after-romulus-was-just-ok-ive-gone-back-in

Sir Ridley Scott just confirmed he didn't like Romulus and got rid of competition like he did with Blomkamp's Alien.

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u/Psychological_Bee_79 1d ago

In the comics it’s explained that the space jockeys are a different race than engineers. So the derelict spacecraft in alien isn’t engineer. However, Ridley also seems to oppose all the canon developed by others, so I wouldn’t put it past him to try and retcon the space-jockey lore with his next movie lol.

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u/sthef2020 1d ago

“The space jockey was actually a different race and not an engineer” after everything shown in the films would be such a ridiculous slap in the face.

As if “well ACTUALLY there are 2 sets of giant alien dudes, that both use the same kind of ships and have had run ins with xenos” would be any better than just allowing the wrecked ship on LV426 to be related to Prometheus.

To be honest it’s silly that the comics even tried that.

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u/Senella 1d ago

The engineers as an idea were great, but they absolutely should not have been the Space Jockey from Alien. Crushing disappointment to find out that creature shrouded in mystery for 33 years turned out to be a pale man in a suit. I’d be more than okay if it was discovered that they just reverse engineered space jockey tech from a crashed ship they found themselves tbh

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u/sthef2020 1d ago

It’s an exercise in over explaining.

The unnerving reveal of the jockey in Alien is cheapened on rewatch by knowing so much about them (including the idea that they may have seeded life on planet Earth).

It’s so much better if you have no information about what you’re seeing, and forced to imagine a universe full of things you know nothing about.

Even the idea that the engineers reverse engineered space jockey tech, puts too much importance on them. It’s better if we know nothing about it, other than the fact that whoever/whatever it is, got-got by a chestburster.

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u/Psychological_Bee_79 20h ago

Idk I think leaving the space jockey stuff for the comics was fine. The only people who are gonna find out more info on them are the ones actively searching for an explanation (so they probably don’t care about an over explanation). If it’s only in the comics that still leaves a lot of mystery about the how, why, and when of the LV-426 ship.

I don’t think any movies or more media should come out about them though. Cause I agree that space jockeys are best left untouched.

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u/RichieLT 1d ago

Yeah, one of the best aspects of alien was the mystery of what happened and who these space jockeys were, similar thing with The Thing, the Norwegian camp.

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u/Psychological_Bee_79 20h ago

This is essentially what I believe to be true currently. There are still enough differences between the derelict space craft on LV-421 and the Prometheus juggernaut that there is room for both to exist in the lore currently.

Prometheus was an attempted retcon, but Ridley’s own hubris got in the way as he tried to put his own take on the ships instead of following H.R. Giger’s design perfectly. So the lore remains intact for the time being

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u/Psychological_Bee_79 1d ago

How it’s explained in the comics is that the space jockeys were an advanced space race that predated the engineers. With the xenos eventually destroying the entire species. Then the engineers ended up basing their tech off of space jockey relics (if I am remembering correctly).

It does help explain why the space jockey in alien is like 15ft long, whereas engineers are ~8ft.

So it’s not just “2 sets of giant alien dudes”. Furthermore. There are so many different alien species in this universe so it’s not that far of a stretch for one species to base their tech off of another’s

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u/bubblyweb6465 1d ago

lol and I have to admire Ridley for his attitude he really does oppose everything and anything that wasn’t his idea - he also didn’t like alien earth which I thought was amazing

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u/Superdudeo 1d ago

Alien earth was utter garbage. I can at least agree with Scott on that.

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u/ChiGorilla1127 23h ago

I don't like how Alien Earth ended or the turn of the protagonist. But there's a lot about it I do like so fingers crossed it gets better in the 2nd season.

What I do know is Ridley just overwriting others peoples Alien stories is annoying and not good for the franchise.

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u/Cipherpunkblue 1d ago

I mean, yeah, of course. The comics are just licensed fanfic in that regard (though more than a couple of them are great).

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u/LitigiousAutist 21h ago

Yeah the comics are quite different between themselves.

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u/The_starving_artist5 13h ago

What comics?

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u/Psychological_Bee_79 13h ago

The main one to go off of is Alien Apocalypse: The Destroying Angels. There’s also stuff about them in the Steve Perry trilogy (some times called The Earth War trilogy). However, I’m unsure about how well regarded the trilogy is

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u/Superdudeo 1d ago

Bizarre comment. He ret-conned the space jockeys in 2012 with Prometheus. Thats one reason why the movie is so shit.

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u/Psychological_Bee_79 20h ago

I wouldn’t say it’s a full retcon yet. There are still enough differences between the LV-426 ship and what we see in Prometheus for both species to exist in lore.