Will Australia Be The Setting For Weyland's Mars Facility Or Engineer Planet In PROMETHEUS 2?

TheDailyMail back in May, picked-up on a possible location scout by Ridley Scott for Prometheus 2 in Australia. The country is known for it's stunning landscapes, and most notably it's vibrant badlands, which has been best used in the Mad Max franchise. We have no idea when the production is expected to begin, but with it's release date rumored for March 6th, 2016 it could be sometime very soon. Once Ridley has finished his promotional tour for Exodus.

Ridley and Fox have recently hired Michael Green (Blade Runner 2) to do rewrites to the sequel's script from Jack Paglen (Transcendence). Besides the knowledge that David (Michael Fassbender) and Shaw (Noomi Rapce) are heading to the engineer world, we don't know too much about the direction the sequel will go. However, we should expect a large presence from Weyland Industries.

I have to assume Ridley is there because of his desire to shoot Australia's deserts and farmlands. The director previously mentioning wanting to shoot plains/farmlands for the sequel. What those locations could be used for is a little less known, but farmlands could mean terraforming or off-world colonies. It was established that Peter Weyland was well underway colonizing/militarizing Mars, and this could be the location where a rescue/military operation is launched to investigate the missing crew of the Prometheus. TheWrap mentioned a bunch of androids and multiple Davids in the film, it would make sense that the company would send loyal androids along for the ride. I'm sure we'll also see another expendable human crew as well.

Aussie actor Guy Pearce has mentioned a desire to return for the sequel. This could be in the form of an heir, hologram, droid or even the ship's computer (an early version of Father?). Having a company interest sounds about right for the universe, and bringing back a non-elderly Weyland would be worthwhile. Since his best scenes were from the Ted Talk viral clip. There are plenty of science-fiction ways to bring him back, and he's obviously game for it.

The viral campaign also introduced us to an early model of the Bishop line of androids with Andrea Bishop, I'm hoping that is new character is included in the next film. Since we didn't have any female bots in the last installment. Plus, having Andrea involved would be a nice call-back to both Bishop (Aliens, Alien 3) and Call (Alien Resurrection). I'd love to see Andrea Risebourgh (Oblivion, Welcome To The Punch, Shadow Dancer) in the role.

I'd also love to see return or at least the origins of the relationship between the United States Colonial Marines and the Weyland Corporation, along with how they interact with the regular population and colonies outside of Aliens. There is still plenty to explore with the marines, and they tend to have richer character development moments than company employees or scientists. It would also allow Ridley to branch-out and give us other characters to route for, besides Shaw.

Another possibility is that it could double for the engineer home-world planet. We've already seen a bunch of H.R. Giger's production art from Jodorowsky's Dune used in the first film on LV-223. Not to mention the design of the engineer taking major cues from David Lynch's film as well. Placing the aliens in a violent desert planet wouldn't be too much of a stretch. Maybe the remaining few are living in the ruins of their once great society, after whatever sparked the massacre at their military base on LV-223.

Speaking of Giger's unused Dune artwork, I'm sure some of the other Harkonnen pieces could find their way into the sequel as well.

Did Fox Quietly Announce Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS 2 Release Date For March 2016?

20th Century Fox also surprisingly announced another untitled film, which will be a Ridley Scott project. Giving the film a March 4th, 2016 release date. While Ridley does have a bunch of projects circling at Fox, one seems to be a giant standout to the others. That being, his Prometheus sequel which is possibly titled Paradise. The project had been fast-tracked after the original writers exited, the studio pushed forward with a new screenwriter. A very similar practice, to how the studio handled their Alien franchise.

Ridley recently confirmed that the script had been completed by Jack Paglen (Transcendence) and even hinted to a 2016 release date. It's very possible that this could be the next project for Scott when he finishes post-production on Exodus. Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace are expected to reprise their roles, it's possible the film won't even go into production until 2015.

PROMETHEUS Sequel Will Be Penned By TRANSCENDENCE Writer Jack Paglen

20th Century Fox is moving right along with their sequel to Prometheus which is set within the Alien universe and somewhat a prequel as well. The film that is rumored to have working title of Paradise has finally landed a new screenwriter. TheWrap reported a while back that newcomer Jack Paglen will be writing the film (I assume with notes from Ridley Scott and the studio). Jack is best known for the script for Wally Pfister's sci-fi action film Transcendence which has Johnny Depp in the lead.

Damon Lindelof confirmed he wasn't coming back to write the sequel. His rewrites to Jon Spaihts' original script seemingly hurt the film overall when the two scripts were posted online and compared by fans. Let's hope that Jack will have more creative freedom than previous writers (ala Joss Whedon) However, when it comes to the Alien saga Fox has a terrible track record of giving screenwriters breathing room to make one single vision. I'm sure the studio has a release date already in mind and Jack will have to deliver a draft soon. Either way, Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are attached to reprise their roles.

Noomi Rapace Says PROMETHEUS 2 (PARADISE) Is Currently Being Scripted, Is Jon Spaihts Back As Screenwriter?

There was a lot of talk of a sequel to Prometheus being in development after it's release, as the ending was a bit of cliffhanger leading to a second film. To be fair Ridley Scott and writer Jon Spaiths actually outlined two films originally, more than a year before Scott signed-on to direct. So the people involved with the original film have an idea of where the sequel is going.

During an interview with ThePlaylist actress Noomi Rapace revealed meeting and speaking with Ridley Scott recently about the sequel. She doesn't mention too much but the project is currently in script phase and the creatives are still putting together the story. Likely, referring to screenwriter Jon Spaihts and Ridley Scott as Damon Lindelof (who only added terrible rewrites) will be focusing on Tomorrowland and Star Trek 3. However, the studio hasn't announced anyone is actually writing the script. It's possible Spaihts is has been quietly re-working old Alien: Origins scripts to meet the needs of Ridley. I would assume that this script could be further along than the Blade Runner 2 script. It also sounds like Ridley Scott is keen to return as it's director.

"They're working on the script. I met Ridley in London a couple of weeks ago. I would love to work with him again and I know that he would like to do another one. It's just like we need to find the right story. I hope we will."

Ridley Scott's THE FOREVER WAR Get's A New Writer

Deadline reports that Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic The Forever War is getting a new screenwriter. They say that D.W. Harper has been tapped by Scott and Fox to develop a new script for the project. Harper recently adapted All You Need Is Kill which has similar tones. It had been rumored that David Peoples (Blade Runner) had also taken a shot at adapting the novel by Joe Haldeman. It sounds like Ridley's involvement with Prometheus, it's sequel Paradise and the Blade Runner sequel has sparked new interest in the film. Forever War has the ability to be the next Avatar franchise for Fox if done properly.

A soldier reluctantly battles an enemy in deep space, and while he spends a short time in battle, the time dilation of space channel causes him to return home to a planet that has aged to the point it is almost unrecognizable to the soldier.

Should We Expect Facehuggers In PROMETHEUS Sequel PARADISE?

It's looking like even more awesome stuff was eventually cut from the final version of Prometheus. As screenwriter Jon Spaihts tells Empire. The major one revealed by Jon is that the facehuggers were going to factor heavily into the plot of the film. Holloway getting himself facehugged during the exploration of the planet along with David purposely infecting Shaw with a xenomorph. It's likely this stuff was being held back for the sequel Paradise which hasn't been officially given a release date yet.

"I did have facehuggers in my original draft," says Spaights. "David, as he began to get fascinated by the science of the Engineers, doesn't deliberately contaminate Holloway with a drop of black liquid. Instead, Holloway hubristically removes his helmet in the chamber, is knocked unconscious, facehugged and wakes up not knowing what had been done to him, and stumbles back into the ship." 

"In my draft, he returns to his cabin, is embraced by Shaw, who is delighted to see him having feared that he had died, and the two of them make love," he goes on to say. "And it's while they're making love that he bursts and dies. So that lovemaking sequence echoed my original lovemaking sequence where he explodes! It was messy." 

"David, fascinated by these creatures, begins delaying the mission and going off the reservation on his own, essentially because he thinks he really belongs with the Engineers," Spaihts explains.

 "They're smart enough and sophisticated enough, great enough, to be his peers. He's harboring a deep-seated contempt for his human makers. So at one point Shaw goes to stop him and David ties her up and deliberately exposes her to a facehugger. He caresses an egg open and out comes a facehugger." 

"David doesn't smell like a person - his breath isn't moist - so he can handle the thing like a kitten. It doesn't want him; it's not interested. But then he exposes it to her and it goes for her like a shot. He toys with her for a bit and then lets it take her. That, in my draft, was how Shaw was implanted with the parasite that she had to remove with the medpod sequence."

PROMETHEUS Sequel Titled PARADISE?

So it's been all around success for Ridley Scott's Prometheus as the film will eventually reach $400 million plus in the worldwide box office. Almost cementing it's sequel possibly titled Paradise to happen as the VOD and home video sales should help make up for it's slow opening numbers. That said, it looks like the Blu Ray release with seven hours of content will be answering questions the film seemed to scale over or ignore completely. As it's first ad "Questions Will Be Answered" seemingly does just that for audiences.



Apparently the name David gives to the Engineers' home world is Paradise (working title for the second film) which Shaw is now heading. Not to mention that LV426 was originally the main location of Prometheus in original drafts of the script. I assume that Paradise could eventually become the planet that started the whole Alien franchise by the end of the sequel.