There are few franchises that have gone through a greater metamorphosis than that of Sir Ridley Scott's Alien. The original film is considered a horror classic, but as the sequel movies garnered a more and more negative reception, the franchise shifted from space-bound horror to more contemplative prequels, the quality of which fans can't agree on.
Around the time of the prequel trilogy's release, however, many became excited by the prospect of director Neill Blomkamp of District 9 fame potentially writing and directing the first sequel film in years. With Blomkamp well known for his unique take on the sci-fi genre and knack for body horror, he seemed like a great choice. The excitement only built when details about the project made it into the public eye. Here's the inside scoop about the eventually canceled Alien sequel project.
Unapproved Concept Art
Way back on January 1st 2015, Neill Blomkamp posted several pieces of concept art onto his Instagram, seemingly detailing a potential Alien 5 that he had been working on. As anyone in the loop will attest, the concept art was met with enthusiasm from fans.
What you may not know is that it was all completely speculative, meaning that Blomkamp had commissioned the creation of the images without any permission or official request from Fox. It's funny to think, in hindsight, that the entire Alien 5 phenomenon was kicked off by what was essentially glorified fan art.
Sigourney Was In
Following the initial concept art's positive reaction, progress seemed to move at a decent pace. By February of the same year, only a month later, Blomkamp revealed via Twitter that he'd spoken to Sigourney Weaver — Ripley herself — about her potential involvement with the project.
She immediately became attached, likely the key ingredient in taking the potential Alien 5 to Fox to get a green light. And that's exactly what happened. Before the month was out it was confirmed that Blomkamp and Weaver had taken the pitch to Fox and had subsequently received the go-ahead.
Retconning Alien 3
As many fans will attest, the Alien franchise really began its descent in quality with the release of David Fincher's Alien 3, a film so bad that the director actively disowns it, and it put a halt on Alien sequels in favor of prequels for the intervening years. With such memorable moments as "killing off every beloved character from the previous films in the first act," it's pretty understandable why.
Luckily, Alien 5 looked to change that. The film was set to return an acid-scarred Hicks and a 20-something Newt to the face-hugging fray, either retconning the less favored sequels out of existence or acknowledging them, but with a very selective memory. The film would have even set up the continuation of the franchise, making Newt the lead going forward, and saying goodbye to Ripley.
New Xenomorphs
What would an Alien movie be without a few xenomorphs? Well, it'd be Prometheus. Alien 5, however, was going down a more traditionally Alien route for its monstrous villains. In February 2018, on the day of the late H.R. Giger's birthday, Carlos Huante, the concept artist for both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, released some concept art for a project that he heavily implied was Alien 5.
The art depicts many hybrid xenomorphs being experimented on, and likely would have tied the plot to David's genetic tampering in the prequel series. Among them is also a human-xenomorph hybrid, something worryingly close to Alien 3, but not surprising due to Huante's links to the unreleased Jurassic Park 4.
Weyland-Yutani Had A Major Role
The Weyland-Yutani Corporation seems to be responsible for all of the shady goings-on and corporate misdeeds of the Alien universe. With its hands in all aspects of space colonization and research, as well as constantly being on the hunt for a sample of organism Xenomorph XX121, often with little regard for the lives of its employees.
Alien 5 likely would have depicted the fallout of the Corporation finally succeeding in weaponizing the aliens, but with terrible results. Concept art that included locations, was mostly backdropped by Weyland-Yutani Headquarters. The film included another Alien queen infestation, following the impounding of the derelict spacecraft from the original film.
Put On Hold
The original plan was for production to be held at the starting line until the release of Alien: Covenant, with Fox hesitant to oversaturate the market with Alien-related films. As well as this, a condition of Blomkamp helming the film was that Ridley Scott produced.
This complicated the matter even more, as by the time Alien: Covenant was completed, Scott had already begun production on the next Alien prequel, and Weaver and Blomkamp moved on to other projects themselves. Finally, with all of the key talent wrapped up elsewhere, the project was put on indefinite hold.
Killed By Alien: Covenant
Following the release of Alien: Covenant, Fox had a decision to make: with Alien 5 already greenlit, would they go on with production for that project or continue to focus on the prequel films? With the Blomkamp project already on hold, and Ridley Scott expressing serious interest in an Alien: Covenant sequel, the path must have seemed clear.
While Blomkamp's directorial debut, District 9, was a financial success, his follow-ups, Elysium and Chappie, had middling to poor receptions at best. Pair this with the critical acclaim and financial success of Ridley Scott's recent standalone film The Martian, and it becomes clear why Fox permanently shelved Alien 5 in favor of Alien: Awakening (the speculative title of the third Alien prequel).
The Script Was Amazing
Back in 2016, when the project was on hold but still very much anticipated by fans, Sigourney Weaver and Ridley Scott took to a panel at San Diego Comic-Con for the 30th anniversary of the original Aliens and answered a few long term questions from Alien fans.
During the course of the panel, they let slip a few small but very enticing tidbits as to the nature of the Blomkamp project, the man himself not present at the panel to verify any of it. Specifically, they mentioned the script, implying it was complete and "everything fans want," according to Weaver, and Aliens director James Cameron saying, "Amazing, performs fan service and should be made."
Or Was It?
There was zero progress made with the film from that point on, but with the confirmation of a script at the aforementioned Comic-Con panel, many speculated that a leak was on the way, in the vein of Deadpool or At The Mountains Of Madness. Nothing happened.
That is until about a year later when the producer of Alien 5, Ridley Scott, was asked about the script in an interview with French outlet, Allociné. He denied it ever even existed, and that a ten-page pitch document was all that was written. It's likely this was an honest mix-up, with James Cameron likely confusing the pitch document with a script.
Sequels or Prequels?
So, when it came down to it, the Neill Blomkamp Alien project was closer to a pitch that was never taken further, but became blown out of proportion due to fan speculation and desire for a true Alien sequel. The question now remains, what's going on with Alien: Awakening?
While talking on the Empire Film Podcast, Sir Ridley Scott revealed that the xenomorphs will be taking a back seat in the upcoming film to that of A.I. antagonists. The sequel is rumored to already have a script and to currently be in pre-production, if not a little up in the air following Alien: Covenant performing poorly at the box office. The Alien franchise has always had a messy history, but might this finally mean the franchise's death...or an inevitable reboot?