Yes, Disney is discussing new Alien movies, as confirmed by director Ridley Scott. It just so happens that today marks the 40th anniversary of the original Alien, a movie that remains a powerhouse sci-fi classic and has really yet to be matched in the four decades since its initial release. Scott, for his part, returned to the franchise for Prometheus in 2012 and also helmed the sequel to that prequel, Alien: Covenant, which arrived in 2017. Since then, the franchise has more or less just been sitting, but it doesn't sound like it's going to be that way for long.

Ridley Scott recently was interviewed in honor of the Alien 40th anniversary, and did a deep dive on how his classic creation came to be. During the interview, he revealed that they are indeed having discussions about new entries in the franchise. This was previously indicated by Disney at CinemaCon, but the fact that these conversations are happening with Scott specifically adds something to it. Scott didn't say much about what specifically is being discussed, though he did suggest it will evolve beyond the familiar Xenomorph tales we've had in the past.

"You get to the point when you say, 'Okay, it's dead in the water.' I think Alien vs. Predator was a daft idea. And I'm not sure it did very well or not, I don't know. But it somehow brought down the beast. And I said to them, 'Listen, you can resurrect this, but we have to go back to scratch and go to a prequel, if you like.' So we go to Prometheus, which was not bad actually. But you know, there's no alien in it, except the baby at the end that showed, itself, the possibility. I mean, it had the silhouette of an alien, right? The alien [origin concept] is uniquely attached to Mother Nature. It simply comes off a wood beetle that will lay eggs inside some unsuspecting insect. And in so doing, the form of the egg will become the host for this new creature. That's hideous. But that was what it was. And you can't keep repeating that because the joke gets boring."

Disney completed its merger with Fox back in March, meaning the Alien franchise, amongst others, are now under their umbrella. Whether or not they are actually going to let Ridley Scott make a sequel to Covenant remains to be seen. This does indicate, one way or the other, they want him involved.

Alien: Covenant proved to be rather divisive. More importantly, it failed to meet expectations at the box office, leaving Ridley Scott's planned third prequel movie in jeopardy. It was expected that the third movie would lead up to the events of the original and complete the story being told. As is, we're left with something of an unresolved cliffhanger. Whatever becomes of the next installment, Scott wants to move on from the past.

"Go on, leave that behind, and see where it can evolve. So we're looking where we're going to evolve."

Fox recently released an online animated series based on the Alien: Isolation video game, as well as a series of live-action shorts. Beyond that, not much has happened since Covenant came out. But if there's one thing Disney likes, it's money, and the studio has proved they know how to make the most of a franchise. Perhaps this is the way we get a new movie in the series that lives up to the original two. Fingers crossed. This news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.