Why Aliens 2.5 was cancelled….

The Alien movies, similar to the Predator series (though recently revitalized by Dan Trachtenberg’s reboot), have had their ups and downs. The first two films are considered classics, but the quality declined afterward. For years, fans have talked about a potential ‘Aliens 2.5‘ – a sequel that would continue directly after James Cameron’s Aliens, essentially ignoring the events of Alien 3 and bringing back Newt, who was killed off early in that film.

Neill Blomkamp, the director, created concept art for a potential new Alien film back in 2015. 20th Century Fox, before Disney’s acquisition, initially approved the project. However, by the end of the year, development stalled and the film appeared to be cancelled. Sigourney Weaver recently revealed the reason for the cancellation during a Q&A session at an Alien event in Paris, responding directly to a question from an audience member.

Like a lot of people, I was a big fan of Neill Blomkamp and his work. I enjoyed collaborating with him on ‘Chappie.’ He came up with a great idea to bring back Ripley and Newt in a new story, and the script was fantastic. Unfortunately, Ridley Scott then decided he wanted to tightly control the ‘Alien’ universe with his own prequel films, which ultimately killed that project. I think Neill just lost interest after that, which is a shame because he’s incredibly talented, and I hope he finds success in future projects.

Ridley Scott maintains there was never a complete script for a potential sequel, but both Sigourney Weaver and James Cameron have stated they read a script by Blomkamp. It appears Scott likely prevented the project from moving forward to clear the way for his own film, Alien Covenant.

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2025-11-11 14:23