Despite bursting onto the scene with a series of dark and twisted concept art, not to mention a genuinely gripping premise, Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 has put into a cryogenic sleep over at 20th Century Fox, opening up the path for Ridley Scott to push full steam ahead with 2017’s Alien: Covenant.
On ice and positively not cancelled, various tidbits for Blomkamp’s proposed sequel continue to find their way online, with a recent report revealing that the follow-up will effectively split from canon, ignoring the stories of both Alien 3 and Resurrection in the process.
Now, series stalwart Sigourney Weaver has weighed in on the matter, revealing the the South African filmmaker – best known for District 9, Elysium and Chappie – has crafted a fitting conclusion for one Ellen Ripley.
“It’s a great story and it’s satisfying to me to give this woman an ending… The script itself has so much in it that’s so original, but also really satisfies the, I would say, the primal needs of the aliens. It’s a tribute to all of the great work that the other directors have done, in a way, but goes in a completely new direction. I hope we’ll do it.”
Reflecting on the staggered releases of both Covenant and Alien 5, Weaver then told Entertainment Weekly that Fox is juggling a handful of schedules to ensure both movies see the light of day.
“Fox asked us to delay so Ridley could shoot his [second] Prometheus movie. That was too bad because we would have already done it by now. Now that we’re waiting for that, I have a couple of Avatars to do and Neill has The Gone World, so we’ll have to see what happens when we get back, when those projects are over.”
Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 may be in stasis for the time being, but fans of the franchise can look forward to Alien: Covenant descending into theaters on August 6, 2017.