Writer/director Neill Blomkamp opens up about his uncertainty of returning to make Alien 5 should the opportunity present itself in the future. The project first began development in 2015 when the District 9 filmmaker began sharing concept art for a potential film, including works featuring Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley and Michael Biehn's Dwayne Hicks, before ultimately confirming that the film would be a direct sequel to Aliens with Weaver and Biehn expected to return. Blomkamp also confirmed he was developing more than one film for Fox's franchise after the film, which was reportedly titled Alien: Awakening.
Development on Blomkamp's Alien 5 would grind to a halt that same year, however, as Fox would ultimately choose to move forward with Ridley's Scott's Alien: Covenant, the second installment in his prequel series following Prometheus, though hadn't outright canceled Blomkamp's project, despite Scott's claims as such. Following the general poor audience and box office reception to Scott's film, Aliens writer/director James Cameron began attempting to revive Blomkamp's project in 2019, though this would once again find itself dead in the water with Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The House of Mouse would instead greenlight an Alien TV series from Fargo creator Noah Hawley and move forward with Scott's third prequel film.
While chatting with The Independent to discuss his newly released horror film Demonic, Blomkamp reflected on his scrapped Alien 5 project. Sharing his assumption that the film is "completely dead," the writer/director revealed he is uncertain about whether he would come back to it if given the opportunity in the future, though offered a hopeful note to himself and those who are interested in seeing it come to life. See what Blomkamp had to say below:
"It was a case of both projects [Scott’s prequel and Blomkamp’s sequel] were moving forward at Fox simultaneously, and one of them was picked. Sigourney was unbelievably supportive and amazing. I have nothing but the best things to say about Sigourney. I’m such a fan of hers on every level. She was always into the project, but Fox just clearly doesn’t want it. I haven’t had anything to do with that for years. I wonder if it’s possible to do an entire loop, where you’re really into it up until the point it gets shut down, then you lose interest and years go by and you loop all the way back around to being really into it again. Maybe that’s hypothetically possible.”
Given the back-and-forth nature of the project's life at the studio, it's understandable that Blomkamp has largely moved on from Alien 5 and kept his expectations low for any future potential it may have. Additionally, with Disney and Fox moving forward with Hawley's series and a new film from Scott, Blomkamp's assumption that the project is officially dead in the water seems a sound one. This may come as a disappointment to many who were hoping he and Cameron would be able to revive the film successfully, especially given Weaver's excitement for Blomkamp's take on the franchise and the concept art teasing a better return to form than Alien: Covenant attempted.
That being said, Blomkamp's assertion that Alien 5 will likely not come to be may come as a blessing in disguise to many. With his first attempt in the horror genre, Demonic, scoring poorly with critics and audiences alike and 2015's Chappie similarly pointing towards the filmmaker potentially running out of steam, there has been a lot of skepticism regarding what Blomkamp would bring to the Alien franchise as it struggles to get back to its feet. Only time will tell if his return to his breakout debut, District 9, will prove to be the creative jolt he needs to turn the critical tide.
Source: The Independent