The Alien franchise is looking to celebrate it’s 40th Anniversary in 2019, Alien Day came-and-went and it was a little underwhelming to be honest. There’s a good chance something live-action could be announced between now and next year, but it’s unlikely going to be film related.
This is where the Alien films seemingly stand at the moment.
Alien: Awakening seemingly is on definite hold as Ridley Scott has pivoted to things like The Cartel and Disney’s Merlin Saga [expected to shoot at Shepperton Studios where Alien shot]. Scott has given conflicting information to what he wanted to do with sequels, from wanting to strictly focus on the androids to having them keep up with the xenomorph origins leading directly into the original Alien. While many stay optimistic it’s been a while since we got a serious update.
Neill Blomkamp‘s Alien 5 is essentially dead according to the director and we’re not too shocked as it’s plug was pulled during prep and Alien: Covenant was fast-tracked instead.
The film would have brought back Ripley, Hicks, adult Newt, and possibly Bishop to help push the saga forward while dismissing the sequels after the second film [something James Cameron is doing with Tim Miller’s Terminator movie] and possibly leading into a sixth movie. Cameron and Sigourney Weaver confirmed reading a script existed at Comic-Con 2016, during the Aliens panel for the film’s 30th Anniversary [while Ridley Scott downplayed it as only a basic treatment/outline]. Jim calling it “gangbusters”.
Blomkamp has since lost interest in the film moving towards his original content at Oats Studios and will direct Chris Evans in his next film Greenland.
20th Century Fox is currently focused on resurrecting the Predator franchise with Shane Black’s The Predator and might be more inclined to keep that going if it ends up turning a profit when it releases in September.
With the Alien films possibly in limbo could there be other platforms for stories outside of video games and comics?
Well, take the following as a rumor.
Back in April, a reliable source revealed to us that a series set within the “Alien universe” was being considered behind the scenes. I was able to reaffirm the rumbling with another source located in another country that was able to support some of the basic info.
What they couldn’t connect on is where it could land be it FX or a streaming platform, Hulu and Netflix were ruled out at the time.
I didn’t think much of the series rumor at the time as I had assumed it would be a big announcement for Alien Day and would just wait, which obviously didn’t happen.
However, the rumbling resurfaced yesterday and that something could be announced “soon”. If they plan on announcing their intentions or are aiming to release it next year to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Alien franchise remains to be seen.
Again, we don’t have any concrete details about what it could be about and can only speculate what it might look like. It sounds like if it’s indeed in development it’s in the very very early stages.
My own speculation is that budget cautious show could focus on a colonist settlement to possibly the adventures of a Colonial Marine unit, a fan-favorite of the franchise. I was given the impression the xenomorphs unlikely would be the main focus and would be just set within that world.
Although, I personally would be down for a show loosely inspired by the Alien: Isolation game.
It’s not a terrible idea to move past the predator and xenomorphs towards new original alien threats. I do like how Ridley Scott introduced the Engineers in Prometheus and if a series could add something new like that to the mythology I’m all for it. One of the Alien 3 scripts had xenomorphs more aligned with a viral outbreak, something that was explored in Alien: Covenant. I mean there are plenty of ways to go with science fiction horror.
Gale Anne Hurd helped bring the Colonial Marines to the screen alongside James Cameron and is rarely given the credit for her contributions to the franchise. The photo above is Gale doing some brief stunt-doubling for the character of Vasquez.
She also co-wrote the original Terminator with Jim. Her film producing credits include Terminator, Terminator 2, Alien Nation, The Abyss, Tremors, and Armageddon. Considering her links to a successful television franchise like The Walking Dead/Fear The Walking Dead as producer, it would be my pick to see her get involved. Gale is also involved with the resurrection of the Aeon Flux series at MTV, so having her jump onto another project isn’t hard to imagine.
A television/streaming series could be a cost-effective way to reinsert the franchise into popular culture without spending $100 million on a single film which might not recoup that cost when marketing is factored-in.
It’s worth noting Fox isn’t opposed to producing/making/airing shows based on existing film properties having done so previously with Alien Nation, Planet of The Apes/Return To The Planet of The Apes, Fargo, Lethal Weapon, M*A*S*H, The Exorcist, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Napoleon Dynamite, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, along with their X-Men shows Legion and The Gifted.
There really haven’t been any details concerning what would happen to IPs like Alien after the merger with Disney, people have been mostly focused on the Marvel stuff. Disney is spending a heap on their streaming service which includes new live-action Star Wars and Marvel shows. Once the merger is finalized there is an expectation Fox’s back catalog of shows and films could end up a large chunk of their content on the service. While nothing says this could be for their streaming service as it’s mature tone suggests it could be a little too extreme for that, it’s hard to ignore they need new content and are willing to spend the money to get it.
So after a total of 6 films spanning 40 years, 18 different console games, an Aliens slot game and various predator spin offs for now it looks like the Alien films could possibly be in limbo… but could there be other platforms for stories outside of video games and comics?
Like we said, it’s only a rumor for the moment but would you be interested in watching an Alien series if they made one?
SOURCE: OMEGA UNDERGROUND