Proposing Paradise as the last instalment to the Alien prequel trilogy!

Recent discussions have highlighted a divide in the Alien fandom. While it is safe to say that most of the Alien fandom would like to see the franchise continue, the form of which the continuation should take is far from clear. This has been confused even further with the segregation the prequels have caused within the fandom. Currently, it seems there are two real possibilities; that of either Neill Blomkamp or Ridley Scott's vision of Alien: Awakening, with Blomkamp's being a sequel to Aliens and Scott's being a sequel to Alien: Covenant. Other less likely possibilities could also be an independent sequel, a small screen continuation (unlikely considering recent news) or a soft/hard reboot of the franchise.

Blomkamp's proposal seems to be to retcon Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection out of continuity and to explore the fate of the derelict Juggernaut on LV-426 following the thermonuclear explosion of Hadley's Hopes' atmosphere processor. Conversely, Scott's proposal is to conclude his prequel trilogy and David's (Michael Fassbender) story while narratively tying the prequel trilogy into Alien, presumably by retconning the Alien to be a creation of Davids, moving away from Dan O'Bannon's (the creator of Alien) vision of the Alien as an ancient alien organism - a concept that has understandably divided opinion among the fandom.

However, there is a third possibility. Before Scott and Twentieth Century Fox buckled to the opinions of social media and ignored the fandom, leading to the development and production of Alien: Covenant the sequel to Prometheus was originally intended to be called Paradise (or Paradise Lost), and was reported to follow Dr. Elizabeth Shaw's (Noomi Rapace) quest for the answers to the existential questions she had following the events of Prometheus.

Considering how John Spaihts' Alien: Engineers became Prometheus, through the restructuring of certain concepts and narratives, it is likely that elements seen in Alien: Covenant were originally conceived for Paradise, which seems to be supported by concept art for Paradise...

Rather than unleashing the pathogen on the Engineer city, it is likely that in Scott's early concepts for Paradise that the Juggernaut landed within the city with David and Shaw being welcomed by the awaiting Engineers. Considering how Alien: Covenant turned out it could be that while Shaw endeavored to get the answers she sought from the Engineers, David discovered the Engineers had abandoned their work in developing the perfect organism; the Xenomorph and upon realizing he could complete their work using Shaw he turned against Shaw and the Engineers, as seen in Alien: Covenant.

However, when I heard of Paradise I imagined something much more elaborate, and from a studios point of view much riskier. I imagined a dark 2001: A Space Odyssey crossed with The Wizard of Oz (bear with me) whereby David and Shaw would have arrived at a grandiose and elaborate biomechanical world and were escorted by a lone surviving Engineer elder (a la Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy) through the dead world, learning the history of the Engineers, the Space Jockeys and the Xenomorph.

Considering how short of this vision Scott's concepts for Paradise turned out to be, I am curious to learn what concepts others within the fandom had for Paradise, because more recently I have been revisiting my expectations of what Paradise could have been and using them to build the backbone of a possible alternative to Scott's final movie in his Alien prequel trilogy. Here is an outline of what I have thus far...

Opening credits similar to Alien... USCSS Covenant speeds past camera, suffering damage and crashes onto a desert planet.

David walks away from the wreckage and ventures out into the vast desert (similar to concept art above for The Martian) toward an awaiting figure sat upon a rock on the horizon. Approaching the rock the figure is revealed to be a middle-aged Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce). Driven forward by further hallucinations of Weyland, Shaw and Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) David approaches a vast wall with a central gate (modeled after Gigers "the Guardian", below), beyond which is an abandoned biomechanical city, ravaged from time and evidence of an Alien infestation.

Venturing deep into the city David would be drawn towards a tower in the cities center called the Necronomicon. Upon reaching the Necronomicon David steps within and interfaces with the device (similar to the woman in Giger image below) learning through a bombardment of images and memories some of the truths behind the Engineers, Space Jockeys and the Alien. Yet, it would be revealed at this time and hinted beforehand that the wall and the biomechanical city are, like Weyland Shaw and Wallace, merely delusions.

However, it would be revealed that these delusions are not from a fractured and broken synthetic mind but because David has been infected ever since he first dripped the pathogen onto his finger (Prometheus), and that his fall into madness and apparent imperfections highlighted by Walter (Alien: Covenant) were early signs of this infection as the pathogen sought to understand and adapt to Davids non-organic make-up, unknowingly interfacing with Davids consciousness.

The closing image would be an ever-rising crane-helicopter shot of David alone in the vast desert falling to his knees and shutting down as, from an acidic burnt hole in his chest a slightly more mechanical variation of the Chestburster erupts from his chest, scurrying out into the sands beyond.

Paradise header created by Telomeresis.