"Prometheus 2" - the (development) saga continues

"Prometheus" while a narrative mixed bag was a visual feast and actually wound up taking in some $400 million at the global box office. Add to that some fat revenue checks from TV rights and the money the pic hauled in from DVD/BluRay sales and you've got a film that actually generated a decent profit, even by contemporary Hollywood standards. Talk of a sequel began just weeks after the film hit theaters but lately there's been almost no news regarding the state of the sequel. Until now.

The good people at slashfilm have posted a back and forth one of their writers recently had with Damon Lindelof that perhaps sheds some light on, not only the state of the sequel, but how he came to be disassociated from it.

The slashfilm article sources another article from bloodydisgusting that states Fox execs are "freaking out" over the fact that no one seems to know where to take the narrative and they're apparently blaming the situation on Lindelof; the thinking being that it was his rewrite of Jon Spaihts' original script that left so many unanswered questions and that by leaving the franchise he's left everyone in the lurch as to how to tie up what they consider to be his loose ends.

Lindelof comes to his own defense in the slashfilm article stating his reasons for withdrawing from the project.

After the movie came out and discussions began about a possible sequel, I was already neck deep in writing and producing TOMORROWLAND with Brad Bird. I have found, unfortunately, that if I take on too many projects at one time, there is a higher probability of those projects sucking. And contrary to popular belief, I do not want anything I work on to suck. I really don’t. I care about these stories deeply — not just as a writer, but as a fan. It might not always feel that way to the audience, but I swear to God it is true. It also so happens that Ridley was about to embark on directing his next movie, THE COUNSELOR, and had another one, CHILD 44 lined up right behind it. The conclusion was obvious — In the best interest of the franchise, it was best to take myself out of the running before I had to suffer the embarrassment of potentially not even being offered it.

So where does all this leave the sequel? Not really sure but the general feeling I'm left with after reading both articles is that the road to "P2" could turn out to be a long and winding one. I hope not. If it is the execs at Fox have no one to blame but themselves. It was, after all, the studio's idea to create a new trilogy. Since you can bet they'll take the credit if everything works out hunky-dory they should also be willing to accept the blame if things go belly up.

Nobody wants to see a sequel more than me (with the possible exception of David).