As Neill Blomkamp reveals the concept art for a seemingly abandoned Alien sequel, here's a closer look at what its story might have held...
Back in the 1990s, when Fox were trying to pull together the strands of Alien 3, a potentially fascinating concept of a wooden planet full of monks was dreamt up by director Vincent Ward. That idea never made it to the screen, and has since become one of the most interesting "what if" scenarios in science fiction cinema.
But here's another one: it seems that District 9's Neill Blomkamp also had a shot at directing an Alien movie. A project successfully kept under wraps by Fox, this apparently abandoned Alien sequel only came to light when Blomkamp put some concept art examples up on his Instagram feed.
"Was working on this," he casually wrote. "Don't think I am anymore. Love it though."
Given Blomkamp's track record in the sci-fi genre, it's fair to say that he could have been a perfect fit for the Alienfranchise. But aside from the promise of the director himself, the story concept he had in mind could also have been a great one. So what was it? Well, we only have a handful of images to go on, but one thing is immediately clear: it would, apparently, have ignored the events of Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection.
Ripley and Hicks reunited
This picture alone will surely raise a smile from those who disliked Alien 3's turn of events. Here's Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and Michael Biehn's Hicks reunited again, several years, it seems, after 1986's Aliens. We can only guess at how the writers would work their way around Hicks' death during Alien 3's opening credits; are he and Ripley clones, as we saw in Alien Resurrection? Or would we have seen some sort of alternate universe story, akin to JJ Abrams'Star Trek reboot?
Whatever the reason, Blomkamp's Aliensequel would have seen Ripley and Hicks fight side by side, as had originally been floated in the immediate aftermath of Aliens' 80s success. From their demeanour and the bomb Ripley has strapped around Ripley's waist, they appear to be on a revenge mission - their target: Weyland Yutani.
Alien technology
One of the common strands running throughout the Alienfranchise - and this includes Ridley Scott's Prometheus- is Weyland Yutani's desire to get hold of a Xenomorph and harness its deadly power. Looking through Blomkamp's concept art, it looks as though the corporation would have finally achieved that goal in the Aliensequel: for one thing, they've managed to find one of the Space Jockey's horseshoe-shaped ships, which they've hauled back to a gigantic facility which looks like a warehouse combined with a luxury retreat from Elysium.
Inevitably, things go awry. One piece of concept art shows Ripley gazing in horror at a mutated figure who appears to be in the process of becoming an alien egg, as we saw in the deleted scene in the original Alien.
Another image shows a new kind of face hugger, which emerges from an egg with a single opening - a possible nod to artist HR Giger's original egg design from the late 70s, before he amended it to the now-familiar cross-shaped orifice.
As if all that wasn't enough, there's another familiar face roaming around in the Aliensequel: the towering, multi-armed queen.
Then we come to one of the most intriguing pieces of concept art in the entire batch - Ripley clad in what looks like armour formed from the skin of a Xenomorph.
We can just make out the words "Pilot Space Jockey" in the corner. Our guess is that Weyland Yutani have been tinkering with the biomechanical technology created by the Engineers, as Prometheuscalls them, and come up with a kind of exoskeleton that can be worn by human soldiers.
It seems quite possible, then, that Ripley would have ended up fighting her old adversary in a strength-boosting suit of alien armour - a sight that could have been either immensely exciting or immensely goofy depending on how it was handled. On the other hand, Blomkamp's film could have provided fans of the Alien franchise with something the downbeat Alien 3 denied them: the chance to see Ripley and Hicks take on Weyland Yutani and the Alien Queen one final time.
A concept abandoned?
Sadly, it appears that we'll never get to see Ripley in an alien exoskeleton, or Michael Biehn in the role of Dwayne Hicks. And at the time of writing, it isn't clear when the ideas for this sequel concept were explored, or why they were dropped; a date on one of the images implies that the project could have been in the works as recently as last March. Was it considered as an alternative to a Prometheussequel?
Whatever happened, Blomkamp at least leaves the tiniest sliver of hope that he may one day get to make an entry in the franchise: "Maybe I'll go back to it", he wrote beneath an image of a new strain of face hugger. "[I] love the world."
Until then, Blomkamp's Aliensequel joins Vincent Ward's wooden planet concept as one of the Alien series' most promising missed opportunities.
