There's no better movie that ranks equally high across two genres than Alien. Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction horror was the first of its kind - a taut, claustrophobic thriller that mastered the art of the less-is-more approach in film, a technique that is seldom used these days, yet is one of the key ingredients to making a film truly terrifying. Just look at the likes of Jaws, Halloween, Jurassic Park, and The Blair Witch Project. Sadly, those days of film are long behind us, and now it seems that Hollywood no longer trusts audiences to frighten themselves - something we're very capable of doing.
The Alien sequels themselves are a perfect example of this. While 1982's Aliens is a sci-fi action masterpiece, perhaps it gave subsequent films permission to abandon the minimalist horror in favor of guns, guts, and more aliens. With that said, Alien 3, despite its flaws, at least made strides to be a one-xeno affair (something the hugely popular video game Alien: Isolation also commits itself to). Alien: Resurrection, on the other hand, remains the worst Alien entry to date - unless you count Alien vs. Predator sequel, Requiem, which sets the bar so low that anything after it only has to be terrible to be ten times better.
And then of course we have the prequels - a word we never thought we'd ever associate with this franchise. Prometheus and Alien: Covenant remains quite divisive, but despite their many flaws, at least helped to re-capture the feeling of loneliness, isolation, and existential paranoia a journey across the stars and into the unknown would undoubtedly bring. But while it's been four years since Covenant, and that there appear to be no signs of alien life, not all hope is lost. So will there be another Alien movie? Well, our trackers have picked up some movement, so let's find out what it is. Stay frosty...
Will there be a sequel to Alien Covenant?
It's fair to say that the Alien franchise has gotten a little messy in the last decade or so - and not just in terms of quality. 2004 saw the arrival of Alien vs. Predator, which, while lacking in the R-rated department, at least offered up some interesting overlapping mythology and a genius setting. Then in 2012, Ridley Scott gave us Prometheus, a prequel to the first Alien movie we never asked for. While the film is indeed a prequel, it's also very much a film in its own right. But perhaps it would have been better adopting the latter in its entirety, with no affiliations to Alien whatsoever.
After all, getting an explanation as to the origins of the xenomorph undermines the entire premise of that first movie. Can you imagine Jaws getting a similar treatment? Nevertheless, Prometheus isn't a complete disaster, as it does offer plenty of thrills and existential terror, along with some remarkable cinematography. Its sequel, Alien: Covenant, however, is the most frustrating in the series. The first half is white-knuckle, balls-to-the-wall xeno-horror, but the film falls prey to its own predecessor, jarringly shifting tones at the halfway point as it tries to be both an Alien prequel and Prometheus sequel.
In 2015, director Ridley Scott expressed his desire to do three more prequels. Since the release of Prometheus, Scott promised that we'd eventually arrive at the point where we learn how the 'space jockey' alien in the original film (now known officially as an Engineer) wound up on LV-426 and became victim to a face hugger. While the end of Scott's first prequel certainly leans in this direction, Covenant appears to retcorn that ending somewhat, while also avoiding LV-426 itself, meaning that a third film is still likely to happen (even if we can pretty much fill in the blanks ourselves).
Scott discussed a sequel in 2017, saying that the film would focus more on the droids - which is no surprise considering the first two revolve heavily around Michael Fassbender's David. He said, "I think the evolution of the Alien himself is nearly over, but what I was trying to do was transcend and move to another story, which would be taken over by A.I.s. The world that the A.I. might create as a leader if he finds himself on a new planet. We have actually quite a big layout for the next one."
Not much seems to have happened since then, though, and while it was reported that 20th Century Fox was disappointed with Covenant's financial performance, it seems that a follow-up still isn't out of the question. However, now that Disney owns Fox, it's difficult to know where the land lies. At the 2019 CinemaCon, Disney did confirm that it intends to create "new stories" in the Alien franchise, and in May of that year, it was reported that Ridley Scott will indeed be moving forward with another prequel. But whether or not this has anything to do with Prometheus and Covenant remains to be seen.
Will there be an Alien 5?
We can't really talk about all things Alien without addressing the queen xenomorph in the room - Neil Blomkamp's now-stalled project, Alien 5. But first, let's take a look at why there is no official Alien 5 movie, which would have been the follow-up to Alien: Resurrection and the fifth entry in the core Alien series. In the mid-'90s, a sequel was in development, and it was reported that Joss Whedon had penned a script that would see the survivors of Resurrection end up on Earth (just as they do at the end of that film). However, as we now know, this never came to pass.
Sigourney Weaver wasn't interested in the sequel and expressed her desire to take the franchise back to its galactic roots, but many years later, 20th Century Fox would instead move forward with Alien vs. Predator, killing any chances of a sequel - which was in no way a bad thing. With that said, those films did no real favors for the franchise, either, and by 2007, it too had come to a swift ending, with no signs of any further sequels in sight. And we haven't seen Ripley return, either - which is also a good thing, despite the fact many fans would like to see her return.
However, a few years ago, District 9 director Neil Blomkamp revealed his plans of directing a fifth Alien movie, which would have seen the return of Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, and Carrie Henn, as Ellen Ripley, Hicks, and Newt, respectively. 'Alien: Awakening' would have completely retconned Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, just like Halloween (2018) ignores everything since the original 1978 film. The director even shared concept art which depicted Ripley and Hicks at a later point in their lives, and visibly still at war with the Xenos.
Unfortunately, it was suggested that, while the film was moving forward, it was canceled due to the poor performance of Alien: Covenant. But according to the rumor mill, Aliens director James Cameron has since shown an interest in reviving Blomkamp's script. So we'll just have to wait and see if it's ever greenlit again, or whether this awesome concept has been put into cryosleep, with the hope that one day someone will find it and give it the 'awakening' it deserves (let's just hope it isn't fifty-odd years before that happens).
Will there be an Alien TV series?
An Alien TV series is in development, which is perhaps the only concrete project we know of. In December 2020, it was announced that the series is being helmed by Noah Hawley and would be released on FX on Hulu. The show will reportedly be set on Earth in the not-too-distant future (which we can assume means that it will take place a long time before Prometheus), and though perhaps a little pretentious, Hawley has described the show as "class warfare with xenomorphs".
In an interview with Vanity Fair in July, when discussing the Alien movies and his upcoming show, Hawley said, "Those are great monster movies, but they're not just monster movies. They're about humanity trapped between our primordial, parasitic past and our artificial intelligence future - and they're both trying to kill us. Here you have human beings and they can't go forward and they can't go back. So I find that really interesting." When asked about Ripley, he said, "It's not a Ripley story. She's one of the great characters of all time, and I think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don't want to mess with it.
It's a story that's set on Earth also. The alien stories are always trapped. Trapped in a prison, trapped in a spaceship. I thought it would be interesting to open it up a little bit so that the stakes of "What happens if you can't contain it?" are more immediate. On some level, it's also a story about inequality. You know, one of the things that I love about the first movie is how '70s a movie it is, and how it's really this blue collar space-trucker world in which Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton are basically Waiting for Godot. They're like Samuel Beckett characters, ordered to go to a place by a faceless nameless corporation.
The second movie is such an '80s movie, but it's still about grunts. Paul Reiser is middle management at best. So, it is the story of the people you send to do the dirty work. In mine, you're also going to see the people who are sending them. So you will see what happens when the inequality we're struggling with now isn't resolved. If we as a society can't figure out how to prop each other up and spread the wealth, then what's going to happen to us? There's that great Sigourney Weaver line to Paul Reiser where she says, "I don't know which species is worse. At least they don't fuck each other over for a percentage."
Will there be another Alien versus Predator?
The last we saw of the AvP series was Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007, which killed the franchise quicker than a Xeno's tongue to the face. Fortunately, there are other (superior) forms of media where you can enjoy seeing the two iconic extra-terrestrials going head to head, from graphic novels to video games. A third movie has been rumored to be happening for some time, though, but there's nothing solid on the table - and this is a good thing. Requiem is the worst of both the Alien and Predator franchises - which is saying a lot when you consider the likes of Alien: Resurrection and The Predator.
Will there be another Alien movie?
Lately, things might have gotten quiet on the Alien front, but not the same kind of quiet one would find in the dead vacuum of space (so quiet that no one can hear you scream). Video games such as Aliens: Fireteam Elite has kept the franchise busy, and there's even a new Predator movie in the works (both relevant and irrelevant at the same time). So will there be another Alien movie? Well, based on everything we know, it looks like Weyland Utani - sorry, we mean Hollywood - hasn't overlooked the significant dollar value of this franchise. And we bet they're dying to get another movie off their chests.
The new Alien TV series won't start shooting in spring 2022, so it looks like it will be some time before it hits our screens. However, in the meantime, you can enjoy a series of short Alien films on YouTube, which were released by 20th Century Fox onto IGN as part of the original film's 40th anniversary in 2019. There are also a number of shorts directed by Ridley Scott that form part of Alien: Covenant.
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