As you’d expect from any franchise that’s been sequelized, prequelized, rebooted and spun off countless times over the course of 40+ years, Alien has experienced its fair share of ups and downs. Ridley Scott’s horror-influenced original and James Cameron’s action-packed sequel are both undisputed classics, but from there, your mileage may vary.
David Fincher’s Alien 3 was beset by studio interference, Resurrection wasn’t particularly good and the less said about the Alien vs. Predator crossovers the better. Scott’s prequels, meanwhile, certainly have their fans, but after box office takings for Covenant marked a step down from Prometheus, Fox appeared uncertain of how to move forward.
Disney are now in control of the rights, and announced at their recent Investor Day that Fargo and Legion showrunner Noah Hawley is set to team up with Sir Ridley for an Alien series being developed for FX on Hulu, in what will be the first outing in the main timeline to be set on Earth. Hawley has a solid track record for creating exciting and unique small screen projects, and he kept his cards very close to the chest after admitting a couple of weeks back that he hadn’t given up on the idea of rebooting the Xenomorphs for television before the news was made public.
Insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming, though, that three different Alien TV shows are in the works, although he doesn’t specify what the other two are. However, in the last month alone, he’s reported that Scott is being eyed to direct a new movie unrelated to his prequels, Sigourney Weaver’s wanted for a return, a young Ripley feature is being developed and James Cameron has also held talks about getting involved in the franchise again. Whether all that ends up happening or not remains to be seen, of course, but clearly, Disney have some big plans in store for the property.
