Progress on Neill Blomkamp’s touted Alien 5 sequel has slowed down since its official announcement earlier this year. And according to a report from Bloody Disgusting, it’s a result of Fox’s other Alien-related movie: Prometheus 2. While the studio is apparently still enthusiastic to relaunch the franchise, the site’s intel says Fox is “being forced to hold off” until Ridley Scott begins production on the Prometheus sequel:
“Alien 5 is still very much in the works, as Fox remains hot on the idea,” our regular tipster tells us. “Blomkamp continues to work on the script (only an outline existed previously) and refine the tale he is telling. Ridley Scott is still producing, but has insisted on Prometheus 2 being made first.”
This delay on Alien 5 bears a silver lining. The extended development process will allow for Blomkamp to further work out kinks in the script and figure out any scheduling issues concerning Sigourney Weaver’s commitment to the Avatar sequels.
Meanwhile, during the recent Sheffield Comic-Con, Michael Biehn – who played Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens – remained optimistic that he would portray the marine in the untitled sequel. He says he’s met with the director but not yet seen a script. Biehn’s likeness featured heavily in Blomkamp’s original concept art, bearing the scars of the xenomorph’s acidic assault in the 1986 movie, suggesting he was an integral part of the franchise’s future.
Both he and Sigourney Weaver are expected to reprise their roles as Blomkamp plans to circumnavigate the events of Alien 3 and Resurrection to continue where Aliens left off. While initial reports misquoted Blomkamp suggesting that his Alien 5 would erase the third and fourth chapters, he later cleared it up and stated that they definitely still exist… which makes Biehn’s additional comments more bizarre:
Additionally, while Biehn is adamant that the new entry into the franchise will ignore Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, our source thinks that might not be the case, stating that they’re, “…not sure if Biehn’s assertions about it ignoring 3 & 4 are accurate. It’s basically far too early to tell on that front right now.”
Attempting to come to a conclusion on whether or not 3 and 4 will remain canon or not is pointless, as Blomkamp’s still bashing out the script. The one major takeaway from the overall project is that is going to be exciting as all get out to discover where he takes Ripley and Hicks next. However it shakes out, it’s looking like Prometheus 2 will begin production January 2016 and open sometime in 2017, with Alien 5 firing up to shoot in 2017 for a 2018 release date.