In what seemed like forever, back in August, 20th Century Fox finally confirmed that they actually did have plans plans to move ahead with a sequel to Prometheus which is now set to be released in 2014 or 2015. At the time it was assumed that writer Damon Lindelof, who was actually responsible for rewriting Jon Spaihts’ early draft of the movie and leading to the current draft that was made into the movie, would be returning, later expressed his resentment over returning to write the script for the upcoming sequel due to his commitment to other projects.

Unfortunately, through an interview Steve Weintraub of Collider at a Bad Robot event last week, now this has seemingly been confirmed by Lindelof himself, in which he provides a lengthy explanation of why he is going to miss out the chance of collaborating with legendary director Ridley Scott again.

I am not [involved at all with the Prometheus sequel]. Ridley [Scott] and I talked at great length during the story process of the first movie about what subsequent movies would be if Prometheus were to be successful. And I think that the movie ended in a very specific way that hinted at, or strongly implied that there were going to be continuing adventures worthy of writing stories. What those stories would be would not necessarily usurp or transcend the Alien franchise as we saw it because we know that the Nostromo hasn’t come along yet. So the idea was to set up a universe that… Is it a prequel? Okay. If that’s what we want to call it, sure. But the sequel to this movie is not Alien. The sequel to this movie is this other thing.

So Ridley and I talked about what that other thing might be, and he was excited about doing it. But then I think what ended up happening was that the movie came out, and there was a reaction to the movie. And I got really wrapped up in Star Trek, and really wrapped up in this movie that I’m producing and writing with Brad Bird. And I have a TV project that I was really passionate about. Ridley and I had a meeting after Prometheus came out where we started talking again about where this journey would go. And in that meeting I said to him, unfortunately, before he could ask me and go through the discomfort of whether he was going to ask me or not… It’s sort of like having a date where you’re letting the other person know, “I’m in another relationship.” So I can’t tell you that he asked me and I said no. But I did communicate to him that I was working on these other things.

The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it. And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in. The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting. But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.” I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does. I don’t have the capability. I’m usually very single-minded creatively. I can only be working on one thing at a time. So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff. And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.” And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.” He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him. But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.

While many feel that he is taking himself out of the mix due to the heavy negative response fans and critics alike gave Lindelof’s script, mainly due to the heave amount of unanswered questions, it is more than likely just as he stated, he is simply just too busy to meet the new production deadlines made by Fox with his newer commitments taking lead.

Unfortunately I really loved Prometheus, I read both versions of the script, and I preferred Lindelof’s much better, so its sad to see this film franchise not have his touch again.