With the Predator franchise having been very much revived at Disney with the release of Prey, there are now inevitable questions what the return of the Alien franchise will bring in the next few years. While some fans of the franchise may think this means that there is a chance of Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5 movie finally being made with Sigourney Weaver reprising her role as Ellen Ripley, it seems that the latest update isn’t particularly an encouraging one.

When the Alien franchise jumped from Fox to Disney, fans were undecided what this would mean for the franchise and others that were aimed at a more mature audience. After months of memes with Xenomorphs sporting Mickey Mouse ears and talks of the vicious beasts becoming toned down, the release of Prey has seemed to settled any fears of Fox’s darker franchises being “Disneyfied” and that means a new Alien movie could be something to get exited about.

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Despite this, producer Walter Hill recently offered up an update on the prospect of Blomkamp’s Alien 5 ever being made while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, and it wasn’t particularly good news. He said:

The Alien TV Series Seems To Be The Way The Franchise Is Headed.

     20th Century Fox

Disney gained a number of popular franchises from the Fox merger, but that doesn’t mean they are going to be developing new entries on all of them. Although there is still talk of Ridley Scott completing his Alien prequel trilogy, and a new standalone movie coming from Fede Alvarez, it seems that the FX Alien TV series has taken over as the franchise’s next offering, and will take place on Earth three decades before Ripley took on the space menace aboard the Nostromo.

“We took a shot at that a couple of years back with Sigourney. But that was back when Aliens was still at Fox. The people at Disney, who now control Aliens, have expressed no interest in going down that road. I had an idea for a good story with the Ripley character and Sigourney. But I do hope to see her in Venice.”

According to FX boss John Landgraf, the series will be the first in the franchise – ignoring the Alien vs Predator movies – that will bring the Xenomorph fight to Earth, and will be set around 2092. He previously revealed to THR:

Original director Ridley Scott is part of the series, having boarded early on as a producer, meaning that while he may not be getting to make his third prequel movie, he will still have some input on the latest addition to the franchise. Filming is expected to begin on the series later this year, with the series airing sometime in 2023. There is currently no word on when Alvarez’s movie could debut.

“Alien takes place before Ripley. It’s the first story in the ‘Alien’ franchise that takes place on Earth. It takes place on our planet, near the end of this century we’re currently in — 70-odd years from now. All I can tell you is Ripley won’t be a part of it, and neither will any other characters — other than the alien itself.”