Is Prometheus 2 coming sooner than we thought?

Life beyond mars

The Martian has yet to land, but that hasn't stopped legendary director Ridley Scott from steaming ahead with his latest project, the follow-up to Prometheus. That the film would be Ridley's next directorial gig was no secret, but last we heard work on it wasn't due begin until next year. It would seem, though, that the 77-year-old director isn't a fan of waiting around, in fact, he's already begun scouting locations for the Prometheus 2 shoot.

Scott's formidable work-ethic was brought up during a recent interview between him, Matt Damon and movie mag Empire. During the interview Matt gave readers some insight into Ridley's M.O., claiming work on The Martian was more or less done a mere fortnight after shooting wrapped.

A lot of us thought Damon was just being glib, but Ridley confirmed that this was indeed the case, saying "I was already on to my next movie! I was starting to look for locations for my next movie, which is Prometheus 2." Say what you like about his recent output, you've got to admire the man's commitment.

As previously mentioned, next to nothing is known about Prometheus 2's plot, other than that Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender will return to reprise their roles from the first film. Presumably, the pair will be jetting across the galaxy in search of our not-so-benevolent creators, The Engineers. Will the whole species be bent on our destruction, or were The Engineers in the original members of some religious doomsday cult with a grudge against humankind? The last film was pretty open-ended and I can't wait to see what Scott and his cohorts have come up with.

The good news is, free from the shackles of Alien, Scott and his crew have a whole new mythology and universe to mould and explore. The mystery behind the Engineers, their theology, and ties to our own past, was certainly the most compelling part of the original and I'm hopeful this movie will put some of those lingering questions to rest.

One imagines the Engineers will be the focus this time round, but Ridley confirmed that there will be at least one new surprise for fans of the franchise. Are we going to see some kind of evolved form of the Deacon xenomorph glimpsed in Prometheus' final moments? I can't be the only one who's curious to see what the little guy turns into - after all, the baby alien in Alien goes from about 10-inches to about 7ft, so the Deacon, which was already massive, must turn into something pretty monstrous.