Ever since the announcement that Neill Blomkamp is working on “Alien 5”, there has been some skepticism from both fans and critics of the franchise, who seem worried that the new film might overlap with “Prometheus 2” too much if Blomkamp isn’t careful. However, recent reports indicate that the producer is taking extra measures to ensure that this doesn’t happen, and he has some ideas in mind that will prevent a significant overlap between the two films and ensure that each of them can stand out on its own.
What those steps are, we don’t know yet, but fans have been trying to guess what this could mean for the future of the franchise. We do know that Blomkamp wants to take “Alien” back to its roots, avoiding the mistakes made after the first films. The franchise did suffer a little bit in some of its more recent installments, and there’s definitely a need to reevaluate the overall creative approach if Blomkamp wants to keep his fanbase.
The new film will actually completely ignore the less successful parts of the franchise, with Blomkamp aiming at a sort of trilogy with the first two films from what we can tell, even if it’s getting concluded a bit late. It’s also a reboot of some ideas, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. This could possibly be an indication about what we’re not going to see in “Alien 5” – namely, prominent plot developments from the last films.
Meanwhile, we got a confirmation that Sigourney Weaver will be reprising her role as Ellen Ripley, and there’s also a strong indication that she will have a more dramatic role in the new film too. There could actually be some harsh developments around her character, but again, we’re mostly left in the dark about this.
Some critics have been actively compiling lists of developments that should be avoided in order to guarantee the success of the new installment, and it’s clear that fans and critics alike have some not-so-favorite elements from the last “Alien” movies. It’s probably safe to assume that Blomkamp is paying careful attention to these posts as well, and it would be interesting to see if he directly responds to any of those lists, or if we will just see the final result implemented in the film.
In any case, “Alien 5” could turn out to be an amazing entry in the franchise, perhaps even the best one, but Neill Blomkamp will have to put a lot of effort to ensure that the film lives up to current expectations. Many of those expectations were set by himself, after all.