Ridley Scott’s Possessiveness Kills Alien 5

Picture this: a space beast lurking above a helpless kid, ready to transform them into something truly terrifying. It’s the stuff of nightmares! But, just when the monster gets ready to attack, in swoops a caretaker yelling, “Get away from her, you meanie!” Sounds dramatic, right? Well, that might not be the exact scenario when Ridley Scott decided to crush Neill Blomkamp’s dreams of making a new Alien flick, but according to Sigourney Weaver, it was close enough.

During a recent retrospective of the iconic 1979 film, Weaver shared, “It was a fantastic script! But alas, Ridley got a little too attached to his own trilogy of prequels, and that was the nail in the coffin for that project.” Ouch! Talk about writing a death sentence for the beloved franchise.

Neill Blomkamp: The One That Could Have Been

Now, Neill Blomkamp, you might remember, burst onto the scene with the brilliant District 9, which cleverly tackled the societal issues of post-apartheid South Africa via aliens in the slums. Nice twist, right? But since then, his movies have received mixed reviews—like a rollercoaster of ranking on Rotten Tomatoes. Just take a peek at Elysium and his recent adaptation of Gran Turismo if you’re curious.

Weaver, however, remains a huge fan of Blomkamp. “I adored working with Neill on Chappie. He had this brilliant idea of bringing back Ripley and Newt!” she gushed. Can you imagine the nostalgia-filled chaos of that movie?

The Misfit Movie That Never Happened

Blomkamp’s vision was like a time machine that ignored the awkward sequels, picking up the story after Aliens, while giving a big ol’ middle finger to Alien 3. It was all set for Ripley to face a terrifying new Alien Queen, but then Ridley reared his possessive head.

Instead, we got Prometheus, Scott’s philosophical exploration that can be best described as weirdly beautiful and confusing—much like that one relative you can’t quite place at family gatherings. The xenomorphs didn’t join the party until Alien: Covenant rolled around, delivering that classic creature feature vibe.

Walter Hill’s Take on Alien 5

But hold on! Weaver also reminisced about a different version of Alien 5 penned by none other than Walter Hill, a guy famous for giving us cult classics like The Warriors. She revealed, “Walter’s got around 50 pages written, and who knows—maybe more!” Sounds promising, right?

Weaver hinted that while she previously had no interest in returning to the series, the idea of Ripley facing the world 200 years later intrigued her. I mean, can you blame her? Who wouldn’t want to see Ripley still fighting the good fight, even after two centuries?

What’s the status of Hill’s script? Weaver’s in the dark, but she’s curious to see what Hill conjures up—provided Ridley doesn’t try to put the kabosh on his plans again!