Director Neill Blomkamp has revealed that Sigourney Weaver loved the idea for his now cancelled Alien 5. Rising to prominence after the success of his first feature length effort District 9 in 2009, and followed by the slightly less successful sci-fi blockbuster Elysium in 2013, Blomkamp became attached to a number of well-established sci-fi properties. Alongside a film based on the Halo videogame series and a reboot of Robocop, neither of which came to fruition, the director was also briefly attached to helm the next installment in Ridley Scott's Alien franchise.
While concept art and rumors about Blomkamp's Alien 5 continue to trickle out, the director recently revealed that the project is very much dead. In 2015, the director partially blamed this on Scott's reaction to Blomkamp's negatively received Chappie, which starred Alien-alum Weaver alongside Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, as well as Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser of Die Antwoord. The fact that Alien 5 was announced in February of 2015, Chappie released a month later, and Alien 5 was then cancelled the following October makes it a difficult theory to refute.
Speaking to The Guardian about his new horror film Demonic, which Blomkamp wrote and filmed during the pandemic, the director was inevitably asked about his cancelled Alien project. Blomkamp said that while the cancellation hit him hard, he also "felt bad for Sigourney [Weaver] because she was really into [the film]." He added that that he felt "there was an opportunity to do one more film with Sigourney in a way that may have satiated what people were looking for" from an Alien sequel. Read Blomkamp's full statement below:
“I also felt bad for Sigourney [Weaver] because she was really into what I had brought forward. I felt like [for] audiences who loved Aliens, there was an opportunity to do one more film with Sigourney in a way that may have satiated what people were looking for and what I think I was looking for. What doesn’t make sense is that I feel like it’s what the audience wanted so it’s strange because Fox would never really turn down money.”
Blomkamp's Alien 5 would have seen Weaver return as the iconic Ellen Ripley in a film set after the events of James Cameron's Aliens. It would also have ignored the events of the much maligned sequels Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, fitting with Blomkamp's assurance that his Alien film would have been "what the audience wanted." The fact that Weaver was greatly on-board with Blomkamp's Alien 5 is certainly reassuring though. The actress has become as synonymous with the Alien franchise as the Xenomorphs themselves, so her involvement would have gone a long way to reassuring fans, and it would undoubtedly be great to see her return for one final turn in her most famous role.
The reaction to the Weaver-less prequel films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant was somewhat mixed, so it would make sense that some fans might prefer to see a return of Ripley in an Alien sequel in order to continue the narrative of the original films. However, with the relative failure of Chappie, it would make sense for both Scott and studio 20th Century Fox to possibly lose faith in Blomkamp's ability to helm Alien 5. While District 9 was well-received, earning a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards, the director has struggled to match his initial success. Demonic has been critically panned, sitting on 14% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. Hopefully his upcoming sequel District 10 will prove more successful even if Alien 5 is no longer a possibility.
Source: The Guardian
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