Ridley Scott returned to the helm of the Alien franchise with Prometheus, decades after he directed the original film, Alien, in 1979. Prometheus was released in 2012 and is the fifth installment in the film series and also a prequel to the entire franchise. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Idris Elba. The film takes place in the same universe as the other Alien films but does not follow the same story; instead, it expands on the mythos and lore of the universe in which the other movies take place.