Alien: Covenant is streaming on Peacock in the United States now, and the timing is interesting given what its director is up to.

Ridley Scott's latest film, The Dog Stars, opened last week and, per Collider, missed box-office expectations while pulling mediocre reviews, a rough combination that could follow the film into its digital and streaming run too. It was Scott's first new sci-fi film in close to a decade. And instead of licking his wounds, he's reportedly already circling a return to the franchise that made him: Alien.

That return would come at a strange moment for the series. Fede Álvarez rebooted it with Alien: Romulus and, by most accounts, did it well. Romulus made $350 million worldwide off an $80 million budget and sits at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, numbers Scott's own Alien films haven't matched in years. But Álvarez has said he won't direct a sequel. Scott's own comments on Romulus, which he called "okay," reportedly have something to do with why Álvarez is keeping his distance.

The Scott record on Alien

Scott's history with this franchise is a study in diminishing commercial returns paired with rising critical rehabilitation, and Covenant sits right in the middle of that pattern.

He returned to Alien in 2012 with Prometheus, a prequel that split audiences hard and still does, more than a decade later. It's also the highest-grossing film in the franchise, over $400 million worldwide, and it landed mostly positive reviews at the time.

Covenant, the 2017 follow-up, didn't repeat that. Made on roughly $110 million, in the same budget range as The Martian, it closed out at $240 million globally, a soft number for a film carrying this much brand recognition. Its Rotten Tomatoes score, 65%, sits below Prometheus. The critical consensus calls it "another satisfying round of close-quarters deep-space terror, even if it doesn't take the saga in any new directions," which is about as backhanded as a passing grade gets.

And yet Covenant is, by most accounts, held in higher regard now than that score suggests. Time has been kinder to it than its opening weekend was.

The cast, for anyone catching up on Peacock: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Demián Bichir. Prometheus is on the same platform if you want the full run before Covenant.

What none of this settles is what Scott's actual next Alien movie looks like, or whether it plugs into the Romulus timeline, the Covenant one, or starts fresh again. Nothing on that front has been confirmed beyond his stated interest. For now, Covenant streaming is the closest thing to news the franchise has, and Scott's next move is the one worth watching.