Ridley Scott & Alien Franchise Alum Set For New Historical Movie Rivaling Tom Hiddleston’s New Disney Series

Ridley Scott has set a new collaboration with an Alien franchise alumnus.

At 88 years old, Scott is showing no signs of slowing down in Hollywood. Following Gladiator II (2024), his next release as a director will arrive on August 28 with The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic thriller. In addition to directing, Scott also remains active as a producer through his company, Scott Free Productions.

Per Deadline, Scott Free is now set to work with Prometheus (2012) star Guy Pearce on The Vesuvius Challenge, an upcoming documentary feature. Developed and produced in partnership with Infinite Films, the documentary will feature Pearce as narrator, with Daniel DiMauro and Morgan Pehme directing. A synopsis for the movie is included below:

“For decades, computer scientist Brent Seales has pursued an obsession long thought impossible: reading the hundreds of scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D,” the film’s logline reads. “Armed with cutting-edge imaging, artificial intelligence, and relentless determination, Dr. Seales and his underdog team work to digitally unlock the secrets of ancient Rome’s only surviving library. As their quest captures global attention, The Vesuvius Challenge becomes a high-stakes story of perseverance, discovery, and humanity’s quest to recover the great lost books of antiquity.”

The announcement follows news that scientists can now unwrap and read damaged Herculaneum scrolls. These scrolls and their contents have remained shrouded in mystery since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2000 years ago.

Guy Pearce at the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards

Scott himself executive produces The Vesuvius Challenge, adding to a long list of EP credits, including The Terror (2018-2026), Trap House (2025), Alien: Earth (2025-), Dope Thief (2025), and Echo Valley (2025). Other executive producers on the upcoming documentary include Jim O’Shaughnessy, Elyse Seder, Nick Tawil, Fredrik Stanton and Alex Petkas.

The Vesuvius Challenge arrives after the forming of a Nonfiction team at Scott Free. Fiction content remains a primary focus at the company, but Scott Free has released documentary projects like Still Missing Morgan (2023) and At Witt’s End: The Hunt for A Killer (2024).

Though Scott and Pearce may not be actively working together on The Vesuvius Challenge, the two creatives did reunite for The Dog Stars. Jacob Elordi leads the intense sci-fi thriller film, with Pearce, Josh Brolin, and Margaret Qualley making up the supporting cast.

Prometheus was the first of Scott’s Alien prequel movies, followed by Alien: Covenant in 2017, which Pearce did not return for. A third film was planned, but Covenant‘s poor box office performance led to a change of plans, with Scott stepping into a producer role for Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus (2024).

The announcement of The Vesuvius Challenge comes just before the premiere of another major volcano documentary project with Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston. Set to premiere on Disney+ and Hulu on July 22, the documentary series features Hiddleston as viewers’ guide through the disaster and the lives of the ordinary citizens it affected.

It’s not yet clear when The Vesuvius Challenge may arrive, or where it may launch. The film could seemingly be the start of a much larger push into documentaries for Scott, at least as an executive producer.