Ridley Scott has been making films for almost fifty years, and his range is enormous. One of the most influential directors in Hollywood, Scott has given us a Best Picture winner in Gladiator, a road movie classic in Thelma & Louise, and war films, historical epics, and crime dramas in between.
But science fiction is where he changed the medium. Scott builds worlds that feel lived in and slightly grimy, full of working people rather than heroes, and directors have been copying that approach ever since.
He has now returned to the genre with The Dog Stars, which arrived in theatres on August 28, 2026, and it does make this list, though not where its director might have hoped. Here are all six of his sci-fi films, ranked based on their impact.
6. Franchise Fatigue Hit Alien: Covenant
A still from Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant | Credits: 20th Century Fox
Ridley Scott’s second Alien prequel tried to please everyone and ended up satisfying almost nobody. Fans wanted the xenomorph back after Prometheus went in a different direction, so Alien: Covenant delivers one, while also continuing the philosophical thread about the android David.
The result was that the film could neither commit to its slasher horror tone nor to its heavy ideas. Michael Fassbender is excellent in a dual role, and the visuals are brilliant. Its $240 million box office was underwhelming, enough to stall Scott’s planned prequel trilogy for good.
5. The Dog Stars Was Too Familiar To Make Any Impact
Jacob Elordi as Hig in The Dog Stars | Credits: 20th Century Studios
While Ridley Scott was confident that this was his best movie since The Martian, critics disagreed. It holds one of the lowest critics’ scores of his career, though audiences have been notably warmer. Based on Peter Heller’s novel, it follows Hig, a pilot played by Jacob Elordi, who survives a flu pandemic on an isolated homestead with a hardened ex-military survivalist played by Josh Brolin.
A stray radio transmission sends them looking for whoever is left. Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney, and Benedict Wong fill out the cast. It looks beautiful, but the story travels ground that post-apocalyptic fiction has covered many times.
4. Prometheus Presented Big Questions, But Few Answers
Michael Fassbender as David in Prometheus | Credits: 20th Century Fox
Prometheus is the most frustrating film Ridley Scott has ever made, and also one of the most ambitious. It asks who created humanity, sends a crew across space to find out, and answers almost nothing. But the craft is stunning.
Michael Fassbender’s David is one of the great screen androids, the Engineers are genuinely unsettling, and the emergency surgery scene remains hard to watch. What holds it back is a script full of scientists making baffling decisions. Still, it managed to revive a franchise most people had written off.
3. The Martian Is Ridley Scott’s Most Hopeful Movie
Matt Damon as Dr. Mark Watney in The Martian | Credits: 20th Century Fox
The Martian is the outlier in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi work, and proof he can be warm when he wants to be. Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded on Mars who decides to solve the problem rather than despair about it.
Adapted from Andy Weir’s novel, it turns botany, chemistry, and arithmetic into parts of a space suspense thriller. The film grossed more than $600 million and picked up seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. After decades of bleak futures, Scott made something hopeful, and it suited him.
2. Blade Runner Went From a Commercial Flop to a Hollywood Classic
Harrison Ford in a still from Blade Runner | Credits: Warner Bros.
Few films have travelled further from their opening weekend. Blade Runner debuted on June 25, 1982, in second place with $6.1 million, buried by E.T., and finished its run with about $27.5 million domestically. The movie polarized reviewers, who admired its visuals while griping about its slow pacing and lack of action.
Decades later, it is the template for cinematic science fiction. The neon-lit Los Angeles, Vangelis’s score, and Rutger Hauer’s final speech have been imitated endlessly. Harrison Ford‘s Deckard hunting replicants raised questions about what makes someone human, and the genre is still chewing on those questions.
1. Alien Is the Peak Ridley Scott Never Topped
Ridley Scott was reportedly the fifth choice to direct Alien, after names like Robert Altman passed. He took it because the material felt dangerous, and he made the most influential sci-fi horror film ever released. His genius is in the restraint he brought to this monster story.
His central hero and the other characters are a crew of tired workers on a spaceship, bringing the relatability aspect. The creature designed by H.R. Giger is barely glimpsed but keeps the tension high. Sigourney Weaver‘s Ripley rewrote what a genre lead could be.
Whatever happens next, the first two entries on this list would be enough for his legacy. Which Ridley Scott sci-fi film is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below!
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