Alien 5 will ignore Alien 3 and Resurrection, Sigourney Weaver confirms

'It’s just as if, you know, the path forks'

If you’re a fan of the Alien series but haven’t been keeping up with every little news piece on the franchise, chances are you may be quite confused.

At the moment, there’s Alien: Covenant in the works, a sequel to Prometheus, itself a prequel to Alien. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film will form the second part of a prequel trilogy, leading directly into Scott’s first film.

Meanwhile, Alien 5 (as it is cautiously being called) is also apparently in the works, with District 9 director Neill Blomkamp set to helm the sequel. The project has been on and off for numerous years now, fans confused whether it will act as a sequel to Aliens, Alien 3 or Alien: Resurrection.

In an interview with EW discussing the 30th Anniversary of Aliens, Sigourney Weaver was inevitably asked about the film and whether it de-canonises Alien 3, she said: “It’s just as if, you know, the path forks and one direction goes off to three and four and another direction goes off to Neill’s movie.”

For one thing, this confirms work is still happening on the Blomkamp film. Second, Weaver pretty much confirms the upcoming film will not link in with 3 or Resurrection (probably for the best).

Meanwhile, director of Aliens, James Cameron, said he stopped working on the four Avatar sequels in order to speak about Aliens because it holds a special place in his heart.

“I don’t normally pursue these kind of nostalgia moments like we’re going to do down at Comic-Con, and I didn’t do it much at all for Terminator on its 30th, but there’s something about Aliens,” Cameron said. “It was a milestone for myself and Gale because the film got seven Academy Award nominations.”

Recently, a ‘spoiler’ regarding Scott’s Alien: Covenant spread online, seemingly revealing important information about Katherine Waterston, linking her character to the original film.