One of the greatest sci-fi directors of all time officially returns in just a few months–and it already looks amazing. The Dog Stars hits theaters on August 18, hopefully to close out the summer movie season on a high note. In the director’s chair is the legendary eighty-eight-year-old filmmaker, Ridley Scott.
Alongside other greats like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott is rightfully esteemed as one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of the sci-fi genre. However, it’s been nearly a decade since he last directed a sci-fi film. The Dog Stars represents Scott’s long-awaited return to sci-fi, albeit in an entirely different subgenre that allows him to show his range as a director.
Ridley Scott Is One of the Greatest Sci-Fi Directors of All Time
Ridley Scott has built a reputation for himself across multiple decades as one of the most prolific sci-fi directors in Hollywood. He made a powerful genre debut with the 1979 sci-fi/horror film Alien, which quickly became an all-time classic. Not only did Alien kick off a new age of enhanced puppetry in sci-fi, but it also features one of the first female leads in the genre’s history. Scott would later return to the franchise with 2012’s Prometheus and 2017’s Alien: Covenant, and continues to contribute to other projects set within the same world, including Alien: Earth.
Scott continued his sci-fi dominance with 1982’s Blade Runner. Although the Harrison Ford vehicle was not as massive a financial hit as Alien, it gradually developed a passionate cult following over the next several decades. Today, Blade Runner is widely considered one of the best science fiction movies ever made, serving as yet another testament to the director’s already acclaimed career.
In the years that followed Blade Runner‘s release, Ridley Scott moved away from sci-fi. He would occasionally return for less famous films. In the ’90s and early 2000s, the director was better known for historical epics like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. While some might have thought that Scott had left sci-fi behind forever, he returned more than thirty years after Blade Runner with what may be his best film yet.
2015’s The Martian may be Ridley Scott’s greatest film. Based on Andy Weir’s novel of the same name, the film follows Matt Damon’s astronaut, Mark Watney, who becomes stranded on Mars after his crew mistakes him for dead. Forced to survive on the barren red planet, Watney builds his own miniature civilization in hopes of one day being rescued.
The Martian is the classic survivalist tale, albeit set in the vast wasteland of Mars. The film excels thanks to its basis in real science, without ever losing viewers with an overreliance on technical jargon. Damon gives a career-best performance, while Scott displays a keen understanding of enhanced cinematic technology, even five decades into his career.
Ridley Scott has since directed several episodes of Raised by Wolves, an HBO Max original sci-fi series. However, the last sci-fi film he helmed was Alien: Covenant in 2017. Eight years later, he is set to finally return to the genre with The Dog Stars, which gives the director a chance to tackle an entirely new subgenre of sci-fi.
The Dog Stars Is the Perfect Return for Ridley Scott
The Dog Stars is a new kind of sci-fi movie for Ridley Scott. Based on the 2012 novel by Peter Heller, the film is set in a post-apocalyptic future where most of the world’s population has perished due to a global pandemic. It follows Hig (Jacob Elordi), a pilot who struggles to survive in this terrifying new world alongside his dog and an ex-Marine named Bangley (Josh Brolin). After they receive a peculiar transmission, the pair embarks on a perilous adventure across a ravaged countryside.
While Ridley Scott has directed multiple space-faring sci-fi films in his career, The Dog Stars is the first that leans heavily into the post-apocalyptic dystopian subgenre. It is decidedly more grounded than Alien or even The Martian, eschewing most high sci-fi elements to more readily align with projects like The Walking Dead or World War Z.
In some ways, The Dog Stars could be seen as an analog of Blade Runner, which imagines the world in a dystopian future with a cyberpunk flair, where technology has progressed further than ever thought possible. The Dog Stars, on the other hand, presents a different bleak future altogether, where society completely collapses, leaving behind only vestiges of what it once was.
Ridley Scott continues to impress almost fifty years after he first made a name for himself with Alien. All these decades later, the director is still telling new stories that challenge his style. While The Dog Stars doesn’t release until August, early sneak peeks at the film already promise yet another modern classic from Ridley Scott.
2026 Is a Landmark Year for Science Fiction
The Dog Stars isn’t the only major sci-fi release that fans should be excited about this year. 2026 is shaping up to be a truly terrific year for the genre, with hits already in the books, including Project Hail Mary and The Mandalorian and Grogu. In the next several months, several more sci-fi films and shows promise to expand on the genre’s immense success this year.
Steven Spielberg is officially set to return to sci-fi this year as well, with his upcoming film Disclosure Day. Set for release on June 12, the film is still wrapped in secrecy, but the early trailers promise a suspenseful and harrowing sci-fi adventure. Disclosure Day features an all-star cast, including Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Josh O’Connor, Wyatt Russell, and more.
It’s also a great year for sci-fi television. Star City, a spinoff of Apple TV’s For All Mankind, recently premiered with a strong first few episodes, setting up yet another historic run for the franchise. Marvel Studios is also looking to take some risks with its upcoming series, Vision Quest, which tackles some of the genre’s more psychological themes dealing with identity and individuality. Apple TV is also expanding its already impressive sci-fi TV catalog with Neuromancer, a new adaptation of the seminal novel of the same name.
The year is set to conclude with two of the most anticipated sci-fi films in years: Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday. Both films are set to open on December 18, potentially making for one of the busiest box office weekends in history. Dune wraps up Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed trilogy, whereas Doomsday is meant to set up the next era of MCU storytelling with the franchise’s biggest crossover yet. While it’s still too early to tell, both Dune and Avengers could emerge as two of the highest-grossing movies of 2026.
Needless to say, sci-fi fans will be incredibly busy this year as they try to keep up with all the exciting releases the genre has to offer. They certainly won’t want to miss Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi this August, as The Dog Stars promises to be one of the strongest films of the summer. If it is anything like Scott’s previous work in the genre, the upcoming film should be an absolute blast.
The Dog Stars premieres in theaters on August 18, 2026.
- Release Date
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August 28, 2026
- Director
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Ridley Scott
- Writers
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Mark L. Smith, Peter Heller, Christopher Wilkinson