Sadly, the odds of seeing Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn reprise their roles as Ellen Ripley and Dwayne Hicks are slim to none. If you recall, when Sir Ridley Scott decided to pivot his Prometheus franchise into a series of literal Alien prequels, Neill Blomkamp’s fifth sequel was put in a holding cell, one that even the District-9 filmmaker expressed doubts of ever leaving.
Now, it would appear the proposed film has gone the way of LV-426. Once again, Scott’s back in action promoting Alien: Covenant, and while he didn’t further detail our eventual demise by aliens, he did expand upon Blomkamp’s film: “There was never a screenplay, just an idea that evolved into a pitch of 10 pages. I was always just a producer, but it didn’t go any further because Fox decided that it didn’t want to do it.”
Granted, this is Hollywood, where the seed of an idea can lie dormant for years before ever growing (see: Mad Max: Fury Road), so who knows for sure. But, Weaver and Biehn aren’t getting any younger, and with Scott insistent on making a dozen more Alien prequels, Fox has very little reason to take a risk on a retconned sequel that would require a very complicated screenplay.
The good news is that Alien: Covenant hits theaters on May 19th, and you’ve seen 65% of it already. Look for Consequence of Sound’s review, from yours truly, next Wednesday, May 10th, in addition to other Alien-related features.
