Ridley Scott is searching for a new scriptwriter for his Prometheus sequel, after Damon Lindelof turned the opportunity down, Belfast Telegraph reported.

Ridley directed the space odyssey from Damon's script, a rewrite of the original Prometheus script by Jon Spaihts. But the writer has revealed he does not have time to work on the sequel.

"The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. 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'," he told Collider.

"I can't do what JJ [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'."

Damon - who created Lost and is writing the Star Trek sequel Into Darkness for JJ - continued: "Ridley and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him.

"But I don't see myself being involved in [the sequel]."

Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace are rumoured to star in Prometheus 2, which Ridley will direct.