An interview with MTV when promoting his upcoming Robin Hood, Ridley Scott talks about the prequel of Alien. You can read the full interview at MTV link here. It looks like Scott's next project is heading towards the gore extra-terrestrial pic.According to Scott, they are still working on things and the current status on the script is that it is on its fourth draft. Scott assured that the fourth draft will contains the basic idea about the story and making the characters around much better.
When talking about the setting of the prequel, here is what Ridley Scott have to say:
It's set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney [Weaver's character Ellen Ripley]. It's fundamentally about going out to find out 'Who the hell was that Space Jockey?' The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle — there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer's chair.
It looks like the prequel will focus on the chest-burst "Space-Jokey" found on the first Alien movie.
Weyland hasn't joined Yutani yet, so they go and see Weyland. [The film] is about the discussion of terraforming — taking planets and planetoids and balls of earth and trying to terraform, seed them with the possibilities of future life.
As I said earlier, cross over to MTV to reas the full interview. So when is the release date if things go according to plan? Scott answered, "We're hoping to have it in theaters in late 2011, or maybe the best date in 2012."
[UPDATE]: Ridley then also added in that there will not only one, but two prequels before Alien 1. (Source from The Collider)