Disney inherited a whole host of valuable properties once their takeover of Fox was completed, but many of them are staunchly R-rated and don’t exactly fit the Mouse House’s family-friendly remit. However, as 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator reboot has shown, the monolithic corporation aren’t above resurrecting some of these newly acquired brands under the 20th Century Studios banner.
Of course, wherever the Predator goes, the Xenomorphs don’t tend to be very far behind, as the sci-fi icons and former Fox stablemates have become inextricably linked over the last three decades. Ridley Scott revealed a few months ago that he was in the early stages of developing a new Alien movie, and subsequent reports have been spreading across the internet about sequels and prequels which may or may not involve Sigourney Weaver in some capacity.
As you might’ve heard, one avenue being explored back in 2018 was a potential Alien TV series, with Noah Hawley among the many names to pitch Fox. The project never came together, though, after the Disney deal started gaining momentum, but in a recent interview, the Legion and Fargo showrunner admitted that he’s not completely given up on the idea just yet.
“I know that there’s an effort to reshuffle a lot of things post-Disney takeover and it was a conversation that I had a couple years back. And I have not in the last few weeks been having those conversations about it. But I know that like any studio that there’s a great desire to make the most of one’s library so I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like that. I have conversations from time to time but I’m not committed. Nothing is at that stage.”
Hawley seems to have some time on his hands after his proposed Star Trek movie was shelved indefinitely, and his work on the small screen has already shown a creative talent capable of reinventing and subverting well-worn genre tropes. If Disney are planning on wiping the slate clean and ignoring Scott’s prequels as well as the canonical timeline, then an episodic Alien TV show would be the next logical step for a franchise that still has a loyal and dedicated fanbase, and could also present the ideal storytelling opportunity for Weaver’s long-awaited return as Ripley.