Anyone who's seen Ridley Scott's recent Alien movies can make the argument that he really dislikes his human characters. They're quite dumb, not particularly endearing, and are decidedly less interesting than either the extraterrestrial species that hunt them or the artificially intelligent assistants tasked with babysitting them. The franchise has a long history of androids who have been programmed with both good and bad intentions, but the most recent additions--Michael Fassbender's David and Walter--are the most interesting yet.

At least, Scott thinks they are. The veteran filmmaker has designs on putting the Xenomorph creations on the backburner and focusing on A.I. for the sequel to Alien: Covenant and beyond, presumably. He said as much during a recent podcast chat with Empire (via SR). Scott, an executive producer on Blade Runner 2049, another pro-A.I. film franchise, seems to be totally over aliens, which is unfortunate. But if A.I. ends up becoming the dominant (artificial) lifeform over humans, I'm all for it.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Here's what Scott had to say about Alien: Covenant and its sequel:

“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. The world that the AI might create as a leader if he finds himself on a new planet. We have actually quite a big layout for the next one.”

So if you were a fan of the ever-evolving Xenomorphs and wanted to see what new transitional states were in store, looks like you're out of luck. On the other hand, if you're a fan of the many, many iterations of artificially intelligent androids that appear throughout the Alien universe, you can expect more of that in the years ahead.

I'm sure you have thoughts, so let us know what they are in the comments!

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Image via 20th Century Fox