All we know about the next installment in the long-running Alien franchise is that it may or may not be in development, which isn’t exactly a lot to go on. Back in September, Ridley Scott confirmed that a third prequel was in the works, but ever since then, the legendary filmmaker hasn’t offered up any more details.
The immediate future of the Xenomorphs on the big screen became even cloudier when it was announced that Scott was teaming up with Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley to executive produce a TV show for FX on Hulu, something that the latter has been working on for at least a couple of years. The idea of Disney continuing the series doesn’t sit well with many longtime fans, though, even if the project is under the 20th Century Studios banner.
However, it feels as if barely a week goes by without insider Daniel Richtman claiming that something Alien-related is in the works, and hot off the heels of the tipster reporting that the next feature-length outing will be similar to James Cameron’s Aliens in style, scope and scale, he’s now saying the action classic’s Alien Queen could make her long awaited return in a future installment as well.
It’s unclear what movie this could happen in and again, Richtman has dropped a lot of intel on a number of Alien projects lately and there’s no chance that every single one of them is going to materialize. That being said, if the plan is to move forward concurrently on both new movies and TV shows, after the muted reactions to Scott’s Covenant, it would make sense on the studio’s part for the next sci-fi blockbuster to dive into the back catalogue and pull out some of the brand’s most recognizable iconography in an attempt to win back the audiences that have grown weary of the constant reinventions.
