Sequel Saturday: Double Dose of Alien Sequels, by Mat Bradley-Tschirgi

Bloody Disgusting reports that Ridley Scott’s Prometheus 2 might come out before Neill Blomkamp’s new Alien film. I’m more excited about the latter than the former. It has been over 15 years (!!) since Sigourney Weaver has reprised her role as Ellen Ripley in an Alien live-action film. I’m not sure if people are terribly excited about the further adventures of an asshole robot head in a duffel bag.

I liked Prometheus more than most people, but the ending set up a sequel that I wasn’t begging for. The tease of a variant of the xenomorph of Alien fame was fun, but the concept of Elizabeth the archaeologist and David the android searching out the origins of the Engineers doesn’t thrill me. Not every story needs a sequel. I liked Prometheus for its narrative simplicity. A sequel that answers the question “where did the bad guys come from?” could overcomplicate things.

Neill Blomkamp has been showing off some interesting concept artwork for his vision for a new Alien film. It appears to take place between Aliens and Alien 3 with more adventures with Ripley and Hicks. I can’t imagine what narrative backflips Blomkamp and his screenwriters will have to do to explain why the actors look so much older and how the plot will fit into the entire Alien saga. I’m really gunning for the new Alien film to happen. To revisit part of Ripley’s story with the advances in modern special effects and the fun energy Blomkamp would bring to the table would be something fun indeed.