Everything We Know (Will It Ever Happen?)
Mia Walsh A fifth film in the Alien franchise has come close to happening a few times. Will Alien 5 ever get made, and what kind of film could it be?
Will Alien 5 ever be made, and what kind of film/story should audiences expect to see? A fifth instalment in the long-running Alien franchise has nearly happened a few times, and each offered different concepts for how to continue the story. While the universe of Alien has been expanded to include prequels, crossovers, and plenty of original tales set within and between the existing films, the movie series hasn't seen a proper continuation since 1997's Alien: Resurrection.
Beginning in 1979 with Ridley Scott's original Alien, the horror franchise has told the continuing story of mankind's terrifying encounters with a race of murderous "perfect organisms" named Xenomorphs. Throughout four feature films, the tough-as-nails heroine Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) confronts and survives the bloodthirsty beasts, and is even brought back from the dead in Alien: Resurrection via cloning after her sacrifice in Alien 3.
Following Resurrection's critical and box office disappointment in 1997, the mainline Alien series was put on ice. The focus instead shifted to producing the Alien vs. Predator crossover films, and then back to Ridley Scott for his prequel films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. For over two decades, the idea of an actual Alien 5 has continued to pop up, with Neill Blomkamp coming closest to directing an ambitious new sequel film that ignored the events of Alien 3 and Resurrection in the latter half of the 2010s. With that film canceled and Disney now in control of the Alien property, the idea of a new film that either reboots the franchise or follows the events of Resurrection has once again become a possibility. Here's a look at what audiences could expect to see from Alien 5.
Why Alien 5 Was Canceled
Alien 5 was in various forms of development since the release of Alien: Resurrection in 1997. James Cameron was said to be working with Ridley Scott on a version, which ultimately developed into Prometheus. And Joss Whedon's Alien 5 project would have been a homecoming for Sigourney Weaver's Ripley, in the immediate aftermath of Resurrection, with the xenomorphs unleashed on Earth. Ultimately, Weaver did not like the idea, and the project stayed in development hell until Neill Blomkamp became the next director entrusted with taking the franchise forward. After what looked like several false starts, however, Blomkamp's Alien 5 didn't happen, with the Chappie director eventually revealing that Fox simply did not want it:
"It was a case of both projects 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."
Alien 5 Story Details: What It Would Have Been About
Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 concept, which originally started life as a pitch called Alien: Xeno would have retconned Alien 3, focussing on an older Ripley and Hicks and seeking to give Sigourney Weaver's iconic Alien character. After the director revealed his concept art, Fox later confirmed a meeting between both parties, but said his movie would be a sequel to the original four films, whose new title, the director said, would be too much of a spoiler to reveal. Later still, Blomkamp's movie was said to have changed again, to avoid crossover with Alien: Covenant.
As for a continuation of the Alien timeline up to and following Alien: Resurrection, that ending saw Ripley 8 and Call survive a spacecraft full of Xenomorphs and safely land on Earth. However, the film's final shot reveals Earth to be scorched and post-apocalyptic with crumbling cities and a red haze in the sky. The exact reasoning for Earth's state of destruction is never explained, and the cliffhanger was never followed up on with a future film. Alien 5 could finally provide some answers, with one possibility being that the Xenomorphs finally reached Earth, changing the dynamic of the horror franchise in an interesting way. A sequel could that picked up the continuity could follow a surviving group of humans who, along with Ripley 8 and Call, have been attempting to rebuild civilization for more than 20 years only to have their work undone by a new invasion of Xenomorphs.
Alien 5 Cast: Who Would Have Returned?
Neill Blomkamp's proposed fifth film was set to include Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn returning as Ripley and Col. Hicks respectively, and the story (which was tentatively titled Alien: Awakening by the director) would've been a direct sequel to 1986's Aliens. Blomkamp revealed in an interview with The Guardian that he "felt bad for Sigourney [Weaver] because she was really into [the film]." He added that he felt "there was an opportunity to do one more film with Sigourney in a way that may have satiated what people were looking for" from an Alien sequel. Here's Blomkamp's full statement on the proposed Alien 5:
“I also felt bad for Sigourney [Weaver] because she was really into what I had brought forward. I felt like [for] audiences who loved Aliens, there was an opportunity to do one more film with Sigourney in a way that may have satiated what people were looking for and what I think I was looking for. What doesn’t make sense is that I feel like it’s what the audience wanted so it’s strange because Fox would never really turn down money.”
However, if Alien 5 were to instead follow the events of Alien: Resurrection's ending, the cast might instead include both Weaver and Winona Ryder, who's synthetic character Annalee Call was the only survivor of the film alongside Ripley's clone. Aside from these two possibilities, the film would likely be cast with fresh faces for the Xenomorph to pick off one by one.
Will Alien 5 Ever Release?
Although Disney currently has no confirmed release dates for upcoming Alien films, a new Alien TV series will be unleashed on FX sometime in 2023. With this show being the first big Alien project to be produced since Disney acquired Fox, it's likely that the company will wait and see how the series performs before fully committing to release dates for any new films. With Disney having announced that multiple film ideas are being developed (including a third Ridley Scott-directed prequel), it's possible that a continuation of the original four Alien films is among them. It would be almost unthinkable that Disney would shutter as big a brand as Alien - that said a potential Alien 5 probably wouldn't materialize until 2024 or 2025 at the earliest at this stage.
