An untitled Alien sequel, commonly referred to by fans as Alien 5, was a rumoured film that was going to be made by director Neill Blomkamp. Blomkamp posted some concept art for the movie in early 2015 and Fox greenlit the project. By the end of the year, Blomkamp stated the project had been put on hold because of Alien Covenant. In April 2017, Ridley Scott stated the film was never going to happen and that Fox decided against doing it.

Neill Blomkamp Reveals Alien 5

In January 2015, director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium, Chappie) revealed some Alien 5 concept art he had produced during post-production on his other film, Chappie. They feature Sigourney Weaver as Ripley and Michael Biehn as Hicks whose face has been badly burnt by acid. We also see a Queen, a copy of the Derelict Spacecraft, Weyland Yutani Headquarters. There’s one of Ripley talking to a mysterious figure who looks like he’s eggmorphing and another of her transforming or wearing a Space Jockey/xenomorph mask.

In February 2015, Blomkamp said he had spoken to Sigourney Weaver about the project but hadn’t officially spoken to 20th Century Fox about it. On the 18th of February 2015, it was revealed that the project had been greenlit by Fox and it was going to be directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Ridley Scott. Sigourney Weaver is going to reprise her role as Ripley. In October 2015, Blomkamp revealed a new improved Pulse Rifle that presumably will be in the new Alien film.

Alien 5 On Hold Pending Alien Covenant

Neill Blomkamp announced in October 2015 that his Alien sequel is on hold “pending Prometheus 2“.

alien is kinda holding/ pending prometheus 2. So I shall be working on other things… as much as I love the xeno- and Lt ripley

— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) October 30, 2015

A few months later, actor Michael Biehn said they were planning on bringing the characters of Hicks and a 27 year old Newt back with Newt played by a much younger actress. In April 2016, Sigourney Weaver said that Ridley Scott had told Neill Blomkamp not to make Alien 5 until after Alien Covenant had been released. A few days later, Neill Blomkamp posted some concept art of Newt which was clearly based around Carrie Henn’s current appearance.

In January 2017, Blomkamp stated on Twitter again that the chances of his Alien sequel being made were “slim”.

Ridley Scott: “There was never any script.”

In April 2017, Ridley Scott put the final nail in the coffin for the project. In an interview with French outlet, Allocine, he stated there was never any script in place for Blomkamp’s Alien 5 – just an idea that evolved from a pitch. Ridley Scott had to be involved as a producer but 20th Century Fox decided not to press ahead with the project.

“Ridley Scott, who was in Paris for the promotion of the new opus of the saga, was even more definitive in our microphone: “I think it will never see the light,” he replied after explaining that the project was far less advanced than previously thought. “There was never a scenario, just an idea that evolved into a pitch of ten pages, I had to participate as a producer but it did not go any further because the Fox decided that they did not want to do it. I had already done Prometheus and worked on Covenant.” (Translated from French)

This does contradict previous reports about the script. At the Aliens 30th anniversary panel at San Diego Comic Con in July 2016, both James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver said Blomkamp’s Alien script is “innovative, amazing and performs fan service“. There also had been other reports that a script was in place and the project was ready to go.

Retconning Alien 3 & Alien Resurrection

The big debate at the moment, judging by the concept art, is that Alien 5 is going to retcon Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection and create a whole new continuity after James Cameron’s Aliens movie. Blomkamp said that the film will not feature Ripley 8 from Alien Resurrection and has stated that the film will be connected to Alien and Aliens but he “is not trying to undo Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection“.

Alien 5 History

Alien 5 has been rumoured for many years by Sigourney Weaver, Ridley Scott, James Cameron and various 20th Century Fox producers. After Alien Resurrection was released, 20th Century Fox reportedly asked Jean-Pierre Jeunet to direct Alien 5 but he declined. Aliens director James Cameron revealed in February 2008 that in the early 2000’s he had agreed with 20th Century Fox to write and produce Alien 5 and Ridley Scott would direct it.  He was working on a story with another writer but much to Cameron’s dismay, 20th Century Fox told him that they were going to do Alien vs Predator instead so he ceased work on the project.

“Yeah. Ridley and I talked about doing another ALIEN film and I said to 20th Century Fox that I would develop a 5th ALIEN film. I started working on a story, I was working with another writer and Fox came back to me and said, “We’ve got this really good script for ALIEN VS PREDATOR and I got pretty upset. I said, “You do that you’re going to kill the validity of the franchise in my mind.” Because to me, that was FRANKENSTEIN MEETS WEREWOLF. It was Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other.”James Cameron

Tom Woodruff and Alex Gillis, who worked on the creature effects in the Alien and AvP series, also said they pitched an idea to 20th Century Fox to do Alien 5.

Sigourney Weaver has spoken about the possibility of Alien 5 many times since Alien Resurrection was released. Weaver has flip-flopped many times over whether or not she would do it but most recently, she said she still wants to finish Ripley’s story in Alien 5.

“I feel after going to a couple of these Comic Cons and meeting so many fans who are so passionate about the series, passionate about Ripley — that there’s more story to tell; but I don’t know how to do that. I don’t think Alien belongs on Earth popping out of a haystack, which is where I was afraid it was going to go. I feel it should take place in the far reaches of the universe where no one in their right mind would go. There are very few filmmakers that I can think of that I would want to entrust this to. But I can think of a couple…

I feel there’s a longing in certain groups of fans when I meet them for the story to be finished because we really left it up in the air and I feel a bit badly about that because I was part of that decision making process. I didn’t want to make four and five in a bundle. I think it’s hard to make these films all in a big lump. You need time to sort of let things resonate so I can imagine a situation where we could at least finish telling her story. I think that would be very satisfying at least to me — although I haven’t done anything about it; but I can understand why that could happen and I certainly know young filmmakers who are interested in doing that. So we’ll just have to see what happens.”Sigourney Weaver

Previous Alien 5 Storylines

Soon after Alien Resurrection was released, producer Tom Rothman said Joss Whedon was going to write the script for Alien 5 with the project tentatively called “Alien Revelation”. Sigourney Weaver revealed in February 2009 that she didn’t like Whedon’s script because it took place on Earth. 20th Century Fox also reportedly rejected Whedon’s script because it changed Ripley’s character too much. Weaver has said in many interviews that she wants Alien 5 to go back to the original alien planet and see where the creatures came from. She wants Ripley to go back and kill them all once and for all. There’s also the possibility of going to the Space Jockey’s homeworld but this could conflict too much with the Prometheus series. Another idea is heading back to LV-426 as the explosion at the end of Aliens may not have destroyed the derelict spacecraft.

Neill Blomkamp’s Alien Sequel Concept Art

Magazine Articles

News Archive

“That Ship Has Sailed” – Sigourney Weaver Talks Blomkamp’s Alien 5 (27/04/23 09:11)
Disney Not Interested In Returning to Ripley’s Storyline (04/09/22 08:38)
Podcaster Joe Rogan Shows ADI Alien 5 Maquette in Studio (08/01/22 01:44)
Blomkamp Suggests Chappie Is Reason He Didn’t Do Alien Sequel (23/08/21 06:32)
The Alien 5 Concept Art Dump Continues! (15/06/21 20:29)

You can view the full news archive for Alien 5 here.