Neill Blomkamp Responds To Worries That His Alien Will Rewrite The Timeline
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The other day there was a big brouhaha on the internet because of what Neill Blomkamp said about his upcoming Alien movie. In an interview he said, “I want this film to feel like it is literally the genetic sibling of Aliens, so it’s Alien, Aliens, and then this film.” Many took this to mean that he intends to discount the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. This definitely felt like an offhand comment at the time, but there was some backlash, and Blomkamp has now attempted to clarify what he meant.
When he first revealed the concept art he’d been working on earlier this year, many thought it was strange that, not only was Sigourney Weaver prominently displayed, but Michael Biehn’s Corporal Dwayne Hicks also showed up. Fans of the franchise now he dies in Alien 3, and this was the first time questions about how this fill will treat the timeline popped up. Then again, it was just concept art for a movie no one really expected to happen, and you can do whatever the hell you want.
Blomkamp is on the press trail for his robot drama Chappie, and as everyone wants to know about his Alien movie, more and more bits and pieces keep coming out. Talking to Allocine in France, he says, “I want to make a film that’s connected to Alien and Aliens. I’m not trying to undo Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, I just want it to be connected to Alien 1 and 2.”
What remains to be seen is how he intends to go about this. It’s entirely possible, probable even, that Hicks is nowhere to be found in this story. Again, concept art, you can’t put too much stock in that. Then this is no big deal. And I get the impulse to want to make a movie that’s closer to Alien and Aliens than Alien 3 and Resurrection. I don’t have the animosity to those movies that some do, but the first two films in the franchise are far and away the high points.
One option I’ve seen floating around suggested that the new Alien could take place between Aliens and Alien 3, and Ripley and Hicks, and probably Newt, could wake up, have an adventure, and go back to hypersleep. That’s possible, but seems a bit dodgy. Cloning has already played into the universe, so I guess it’s possible we could encounter a clone of Hicks at some point.
Sigourney Weaver is obviously much older than last time she took Ellen Ripley out for a spin (I still can’t believe she’s 65-years-old, that blows my mind), and both she and Blomkamp spoke of giving this character a conclusion, of properly wrapping this story up. At this stage we have no idea what this is going to entail, but it should be a lot of fun to watch happen.
