Neill Blomkamp has been stumping hard for his upcoming robot-centric actioner Chappie, but over the last few weeks, one subject has overshadowed his latest film, his next one, which will see the South African director take on the world of Ridley Scott’s Alien. Damn near every time he sits down with the press there’s some Chappie talk, but what everyone really wants to know appears to be news about his Alien project. There has been a lot of talk about whether or not Michael Biehn will reprise his role as Corporal Dwayne Hicks from James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens, and now the actor himself has addressed the topic.

The talk first started when Blomkamp released some concept art for this project at the beginning of the year. No one knew he was working on this, and it seemed more like something he was doing for fun rather than as a potential new film. Hicks figures prominently in the images, but it’s concept art, which is far from gospel, so we didn’t know what was up. Then all of a sudden this is official and happening and we have a lot of questions.

If you ask gamers what one of the biggest disappointments of the past year was, chances are several of them are going to mention Sega’s Aliens: Colonial Marines. Probably after punching a hole in a nearby wall. For decades, video games have been cribbing from James Cameron’s classic Aliens, and from the larger Alien mythology. But while there have been a few good Alien games over the years, we haven’t had an official spin-off that truly captured the frantic action, the claustrophobic fear and paranoia, of Cameron’s Alien sequel. Many a shout of joy went up, then, when Aliens: Colonial Marines was first announced. And many a cry of grief went up when the game arrived…and was bad. The victim of delays and behind-the-scenes production issues, Colonial Marines disappointed on virtually every front. And as it turns out, gamers weren’t the only ones left bitter about the experience. Aliens actor Michael Biehn, who returned to voice the character of Corporal Dwayne Hicks, called the experience “passionless.” Ouch.

On paper it sounded amazing. An in-canon sequel to Aliens, Colonial Marines would follow up directly on Cameron’s film and explore many of the locations from the films, casting players in the role of a squad of Marines sent to figure out what the hell happened to Hadley’s Hope and the last squad they sent to investigate. Early footage looked like the Aliens game fans had been waiting decades for. But when Biehn was called in to voice the role of Hicks, his first impressions were not good. Speaking to Game Informer, Biehn says the experience “wasn’t fun at all.” He continues: