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Alien (franchise)
Science fiction horror franchise From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alien is a science fiction horror and action media franchise centered on the original film series which depicts warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as the Alien ("Xenomorph"), and the prequel series following the exploits of the David 8 android (Michael Fassbender) and the aliens referred to as the "Engineers".
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Produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios, the series began with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, and was followed by three sequels: Aliens (1986), directed by James Cameron; Alien 3 (1992), directed by David Fincher; and Alien Resurrection (1997), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Scott also directed the prequel series films Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). This was followed by Alien: Romulus (2024), which is set between the first two films and was directed by Fede Álvarez.
The series has led to numerous novels, comics, video games and an upcoming television series titled Alien: Earth, developed by Scott for FX on Hulu, with Noah Hawley. It has inspired a number of spin-offs – most notably the Alien vs. Predator series, which combines the continuities of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise and consists of two films as well as various series of comics, books, and video games.
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Premise
The Alien franchise depicts a series of deadly encounters, predominantly spanning the 22nd and 24th centuries, between humanity and the Xenomorph; a hostile, endoparasitoid, extraterrestrial species.[1] Humanity is depicted as a space-faring species with an interstellar dominion; space journeys typically last months, even years, and require the use of cryosleep.[2] Throughout the series, characters are repeatedly manipulated and endangered by the unscrupulous megacorporation Weyland-Yutani Corp, which seeks to profit from the Aliens.[1][3]
The series fictionalizes the origin of the human race. A member of an ancient humanoid species, called the "Engineers", sacrifices himself, allowing his DNA to spark the genesis of mankind. The Engineers' other experiments, designed to exterminate the human race through the means of a deadly mutagen, pave the way for the Aliens to rise and populate through the traumatic implantation of larvae in hosts.[4][1] Incidents across several generations are chronicled throughout the franchise.
Background
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Writer Dan O'Bannon, wanting to write a science-fiction action film, collaborated with screenwriter Ronald Shusett on a script, initially titled Star Beast, but eventually changed to Alien. Brandywine Productions, a company which had a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox, bought the script. The writers expected it to be a low-budget film, but the success of Star Wars inclined Fox to invest millions.[5]
In the original script, the ship had an all-male crew, though it noted that all roles could be played by men or women without major changes to the film. The Ripley character was initially to be played by Tom Skerritt, but when Fox president Alan Ladd Jr. and the producers at Brandywine heard rumors of Fox working on other titles with strong female leads, it was decided to cast a female as Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and Skerritt became Captain Dallas. Ridley Scott came on as director.
Swiss painter and sculptor H. R. Giger designed the alien creature's adult form and the derelict ship, while French artist Mœbius created the look of the spacesuits and Ron Cobb provided most of the industrial design for the sets.[6][7][8]
While Alien was a critical and financial success upon its 1979 release, Fox did not consider a sequel until 1983. That year, James Cameron expressed his interest to producer David Giler in continuing the Alien story. After Cameron's The Terminator became a box office hit in 1984, Cameron and partner Gale Anne Hurd were given approval to direct and produce the sequel to Alien, scheduled for a 1986 release.[9] Cameron wrote the screenplay for Aliens from a story he developed with Giler and Walter Hill.
Following the second film, Weaver was not interested in returning to the series, so Giler and Hill commissioned a sequel without the Ripley character. Fox's president Joe Roth opposed Ripley's removal, and Weaver was offered a $5 million salary and a producer credit to make Alien 3. Giler, Hill and Larry Ferguson wrote the screenplay, based on a story from an earlier script by Vincent Ward, intended to bring closure to the Alien franchise by killing off Ripley, the principal character. Alien 3 faced a mired production, with extensive script difficulties, trouble securing a director, production beginning prior to the completion of a final script, as well as profuse studio interference.[10][11]
While fans and critics initially did not receive Alien 3 well, and director David Fincher disowned it,[12][13] the film was a worldwide success and piqued Fox's interest in continuing the franchise. The Assembly Cut, which restored many of the scenes cut from the theatrical version, would later receive more positive reviews,[14][15][16] with the film considered a cult classic in some quarters.[17][18]
In 1996, production on the fourth Alien film, Alien Resurrection, began. Ripley was not in the script's first draft, and Weaver was not interested in reprising the role. She joined the project after being offered an $11 million salary and more creative control, including director approval. The script, set 200 years after Alien 3, resurrected the Ripley character via human cloning.[19] The film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, experienced an extended production, and screenwriter Joss Whedon later said that he thought it had done "everything wrong" with his script.[20] The film was released in 1997 to mixed reviews and modest box office returns. It has since gained fans for its camp style and dark humor.[21][22][23]
Films
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Original series
Alien (1979)
On its way back to Earth, the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo is diverted to a desolate planetoid by a cryptic signal from a derelict alien spacecraft. Inside the alien ship, the crew discovers thousands of egg-like objects. A creature, released from one of the eggs, attaches itself to a crewman's face, rendering him unconscious. The others break quarantine to return him to the Nostromo. The parasite dies and the crewman wakes up, seemingly unaffected. Soon afterwards, an alien organism bursts from his chest and grows rapidly into a large lethal creature, which the surviving crew attempt to kill. The Nostromo is destroyed in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the creature, leaving Ellen Ripley as the only survivor in the ship's lifeboat.
Aliens (1986)
After 57 years in hypersleep, Ripley awakens aboard a medical space station orbiting Earth. She recounts the events of the Nostromo but is disbelieved by her superiors in the Weyland Yutani corporation, which has now begun to terraform and colonise LV-426, the planetoid from the first film. When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley is persuaded to accompany a squad of marines to investigate. They discover the colonists have been wiped out after being directed by the company to secure the derelict ship reported by Ripley. There is only one survivor, a girl named Newt. The aliens vastly outnumber and quickly overwhelm the marines, who fight for survival. Only a handful, including Ripley and Newt, escape.
Alien 3 (1992)
Immediately following the events of Aliens, the military ship USS Sulaco, carrying the survivors, catches fire. The occupants are ejected in an escape pod, which crash-lands on the refinery/prison planet Fiorina "Fury" 161. All on board except Ripley are killed. An alien facehugger is also aboard, and impregnates an animal with an alien, which soon begins killing inmates and wardens. Ripley discovers an alien queen is growing inside her, and is determined to kill both herself and the creature before Weyland Yutani can exploit them.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
Two hundred years after the events of Alien 3, several clones of Ripley, including the Alien queen she was carrying, are grown by the military aboard the USM Auriga. The military intends to exploit the Aliens, and uses humans kidnapped and delivered to them by a group of mercenaries as hosts for the queen's eggs. The Aliens escape, and Ripley 8 (a clone mixed with Alien DNA) and the mercenaries attempt to escape and destroy the Auriga before it reaches Earth.
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Crossover series
Inspired by the Dark Horse Comics series, the filmmakers of Predator 2 (1990) incorporated an Easter egg in which an Alien skull was seen in a Predator trophy case. Expansions upon this shared universe between the Alien and Predator franchises followed through comics and video games, leading up to the launch of a film franchise with the release of Alien vs. Predator in 2004, followed by Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007. The franchise has spawned various comics, novels, video games, and other merchandise based upon or inspired by the films. A third film has been variously rumored since the production of Requiem.[24][25][26] In mid-2018, Shane Black, the director of The Predator, expressed his belief that a third Alien vs. Predator could still happen, indicating the studio's interest in both franchises.[27] In 2024, Fede Álvarez, the director of Alien: Romulus, also said he was open to directing a third Alien vs. Predator film, proposing to Melanie Brooks and Anthony D'Alessandro of Deadline Hollywood that he would enjoy directing it along with Dan Trachtenberg, the director of the Predator films Prey (2022) and Predator: Badlands (2025): "Maybe it's something I have to co-direct with my buddy Dan. Maybe we should do like [Quentin] Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez did with [From] Dusk till Dawn. I'll direct a half, and he'll direct another half."[28]
Alien vs. Predator (2004)
In 2004, a Predator mothership arrives in Earth orbit to draw humans to an ancient Predator training ground on Bouvetøya, an island about one thousand miles north of Antarctica. A buried pyramid giving off a "heat bloom" attracts a group of explorers led by billionaire and self-taught engineer Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen), the original founder and CEO of Weyland Industries, who unknowingly activates an Alien egg production line as a hibernating Alien queen is awakened within the pyramid. Three Predators descend to the planet and enter the structure, killing all humans in their way with the intention of hunting the newly formed Aliens, while the scattered explorers are captured alive by Aliens and implanted with embryos. Two Predators die in the ensuing battle with an Alien, while the third allies itself with the lone surviving human, Alexa "Lex" Woods (Sanaa Lathan), while making their way out of the pyramid as it is destroyed by the Predator's wrist bomb and eventually does battle with the escaped Alien Queen on the surface. The Queen is defeated by being dragged down by a water tower into the dark depths of the frozen sea, but not before she fatally wounds the last Predator. The orbiting Predator mothership uncloaks and the crew retrieves the fallen Predator. A Predator elder gives Lex a spear as a sign of respect, and then departs. Once in orbit it is revealed that an Alien Chestburster was present within the corpse, thus a Predalien hybrid is born.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
Set immediately after the events of the previous film, the Predalien hybrid aboard the Predator scout ship, having just separated from the mothership shown in the previous film, has grown to full adult size and sets about killing the Predators aboard the ship, causing it to crash in the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. The last surviving Predator activates a distress beacon containing a video recording of the Predalien, which is received by a veteran Predator on the Predator homeworld, who sets off towards Earth to "clean up" the infestation. When it arrives, the Predator tracks the Aliens into a section of the sewer below the town. He removes evidence of their presence as he moves along using a corrosive blue liquid and uses a laser net to try to contain the creatures, but the Aliens still manage to escape into the town above. The Predator fashions a plasma pistol from its remaining plasma caster and hunts Aliens all across town, accidentally cutting the power to the town in the process. During a confrontation with human survivors, the Predator loses its plasma pistol. The Predator then fights the Predalien singlehandedly, and the two mortally wound one another just as the US air force drops a tactical nuclear bomb on the town, incinerating both combatants along with the Predalien's warriors and hive, as well as the few remaining humans in the town. The salvaged plasma pistol is then taken to Ms. Cullen Yutani of the Yutani Corporation, foreshadowing an advance in technology leading to the future events of the Alien films.
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Prequel series
Development of a prequel story began in the early 2000s when both Ridley Scott and James Cameron started to develop ideas for a story that would explore the origins of the Alien. In 2002, the development of Alien vs. Predator had taken precedence and the prequel project remained dormant until 2009. Jon Spaihts wrote the first screenplay for the project, but Scott then opted for a different direction and hired Damon Lindelof in 2010, to rewrite the script into a story that focused on the creators of the Aliens, rather than the Aliens themselves. The film, titled Prometheus, was released in 2012 to box office success and mostly positive reviews.[29][30]
By 2014, development on the second prequel was underway, with Scott returning as director.[31] The film's screenplay was initially written by Jack Paglen in 2013, but was subsequently rewritten by Michael Green and Dante Harper, before Scott's collaborator from Gladiator, John Logan, wrote the final version.[32][33] The film, titled Alien: Covenant, commenced production in February 2016 and was released on May 19, 2017.[34][35] Alien: Covenant was a box office disappointment, grossing $240.9 million worldwide against a production budget of $97 million, while also receiving lukewarm critical reviews.[36][37] The story of the prequel series centers around the android David 8, and two crews he accompanies on expeditions to meet the mysterious Engineers.
Prometheus (2012)
Some 30 years before the events of Alien, scientists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover a star map among the remnants of several ancient Earth cultures. Accompanied by David 8 and hoping to discover the origins of humanity, they journey aboard the spaceship USCSS Prometheus and arrive on the distant planet LV-223 in the Zeta2 Reticuli system, the same region of space in which the planetoid LV-426 from Alien is found. There they discover the ancient remains of an advanced civilization, called the Engineers (apparently the same race as the dead pilot from the derelict ship in Alien), who were developing biological weapons in the form of a pathogenic mutagen which could have driven the human race extinct. The horrors they encounter result in the loss of the crew except for David and Shaw.
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Eleven years after the events of Prometheus, the colony ship USCSS Covenant, carrying thousands of colonists and hundreds of human embryos in cryo-stasis, makes its way towards the planet Origae-6. The crew is awakened by a neutrino blast and intercepts a transmission sent from Shaw, which they decide to trace to an apparently habitable Engineer home world (referred to as Planet 4), devoid of all non-floral life. When several crew members are infected by the same mutagen encountered by the Prometheus crew and give birth to a new breed of Alien, the Neomorphs, the android David 8 rescues them. It is revealed that he brought Shaw to the planet, where he killed all non-floral life and began experimenting on Shaw's corpse to engineer his own breeds of Aliens. His motive to replace human life with Aliens is made apparent, and with the birth of yet another new breed of Alien, a terraforming expert named Daniels and the remaining crew are forced to flee from the world. After disposing of the Aliens chasing them, the crew members return to the Covenant and are put back into cryosleep by someone they believe to be their shipboard synthetic, Walter. Only when Daniels is put in her cryopod does she realize that Walter has been replaced by the identical David. With the crew, colonists, and embryos at his mercy, David contacts Weyland-Yutani back on Earth, stating that while the majority of the crew was killed in the neutrino blast, they would continue to Origae-6.[38]
Spin-off film
Alien: Romulus (2024)
In March 2022, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hulu would release a new Alien film, initially reported as a standalone entry in the franchise, to be directed by Fede Álvarez and produced by Ridley Scott. Álvarez had pitched the idea to Scott years prior.[39] It was later clarified that the film was set between Alien and Aliens.[40] Cailee Spaeny was announced to be in talks for the lead role from November of that year.[41] Under the working title Alien: Romulus, filming was scheduled to begin on February 6, 2023 at Origo Studios in Budapest, Hungary.[42] In March 2023, Isabela Merced joined Spaeny in an undisclosed role.[43] The official date of filming was set for March 9.[44] It was released in theaters on August 16, 2024.[45]
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Future
In the mid-1990s, screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine wrote a treatment, Alien: Earthbound. Fox executives were impressed by the script, having read it after Alien Resurrection had entered post-production.[46] According to Sigourney Weaver, Joss Whedon had written an Earth-set script for Alien 5, but Weaver was not interested and wanted it to be set on the original planetoid. She has remained open to a role on the condition that she likes the story.[47] Before 20th Century Fox greenlit Alien vs. Predator, James Cameron had been collaborating on the plot for a fifth Alien film with another writer, but ceased work on learning of the crossover. Cameron stated that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise", and that "it was Frankenstein Meets Werewolf" – like "Universal just taking their assets and starting to play them off against each other." Although he liked the final product, he ruled out any future involvement with the series.[48] In late 2008, Weaver hinted in an interview with MTV that she and Scott were working on an Alien spin-off film, which would focus on the chronicles of Ellen Ripley rather than on the Aliens, but the continuation of Ripley's story has not materialized.[49]
In 2015, Sigourney Weaver expressed her interest in returning to the role of Ripley with Neill Blomkamp's story (purportedly titled Alien: Awakening) which would tie into the first two Alien films by taking place after Aliens and foregoing involvement with the other two sequels.[50][51] This was canceled in favor of Scott's own untitled third prequel (also purportedly titled Alien: Awakening).[52][53] In February 2019, James Cameron stated that he was working on reviving Blomkamp's project.[54] In June 2020, Brandywine Productions revealed that a screenplay for a new installment in the original series called Alien V, centered around Ripley, had been written by Walter Hill and David Giler.[55] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published in September 2022, Hill confirmed that the proposed alternative sequel involving Weaver would not be moving forward.[56] Blomkamp reused some of his proposed concepts for Alien V in his short film Rakka, also starring Sigourney Weaver.[57]
After the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, it was officially confirmed at the 2019 CinemaCon that future Alien films are in development.[58] In May 2019, Variety reported that the third prequel film was "in the script phase", with Ridley Scott attached to serve once again as director.[59][60] In September 2020, Scott confirmed that work on the next installment is ongoing, but whether the plot would be connected Prometheus and Alien: Covenant was undecided.[61] In October 2024, Scott confirmed he is developing a new Alien film.[62]
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Short films
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In 2012 and 2017 respectively, fourteen short films were produced to tie in with the releases of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. In July 2018, it was reported that 20th Century Fox had joined forces with Tongal to produce short films, intended to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Alien franchise.[95][96][97] By March 2019, the details of the anthology short films were released. Tongal co-founder and CEO James DeJulio stated that the joint-production is "reflective of Tongal's mission to bring creative opportunities to the next generation of talent." The shorts were released weekly on IGN, after which they were uploaded to the Alien Universe web page, as well as all Alien social media pages on May 5 of the same year. All six of the short films premiered at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle.[92] The 40th anniversary short films are available as a Movies Anywhere-exclusive bonus feature accompanying the digital release of Alien.
Television and web series
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In 1979, 20th Century Fox considered producing a television series based on the 1979 film Alien, with the intention of ABC picking it up, but its only media coverage was in the June 1980 Fangoria issue #6.[99] In 1992, an animated series inspired by the 1986 film Aliens titled Operation: Aliens was being developed along with an LCD game, board game, a Sega Genesis video game by THQ, and action figures.[100][101][102][103] However, the brand lived on through Kenner toylines as simply Aliens and in the comics series included with the action figures as well as in the Aliens/Predator Universe trading cards set.[104] In 2007, Ain't It Cool News reported that a (since cancelled) animated series inspired by the 1986 film Aliens titled Aliens: War Games was being developed.[105][106]
Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series (2019)
In 2014, Sega published the video game Alien: Isolation. In 2019, a seven-episode animated adaptation of the same name[107] was released on February 28. The series, developed by 20th Century Fox, in conjunction with Reverse Engineering Studios and DVgroup, was created using a combination of brand-new scenes animated from scratch, cinematics taken directly from the original game, and digital recreations of first-person scenes from the game. Alien: Isolation is set in 2137, 15 years after the events of Alien and 42 years prior to Aliens, following Amanda Ripley, who is investigating the disappearance of her mother, Ellen Ripley, as she is transferred to the space station Sevastopol to find the flight recorder of the Nostromo only to discover an Alien has terrorized the station, killing the vast majority of the crew.[108] Andrea Deck reprises her role as Amanda Ripley.
Alien: Earth (forthcoming)
On December 10, 2020, as part of Disney's Investor Day presentation, a new TV series project based on the franchise was announced to be in development for FX on Hulu, with Noah Hawley and Scott being involved (the former as showrunner and the latter as producer). It will be set on Earth in the near future, thus marking the first of the franchise to do so without featuring Ellen Ripley.[109][110] At the 2021 Television Critics Association Press Tour, FX network's John Landgraf said that the series will probably premiere in 2023.[111] A casting sheet for characters Hermit and Wendy shed light on the show's leads.[112] Reports suggested that the TV series would start filming in March 2022,[113] but production was delayed until 2023, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[114][115] On April 6, Landgraf stated that the series was in "active preproduction".[116] On July 19, the production of the series began in Thailand with Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther and Samuel Blenkin being cast as the series' lead roles.[117][118] Alien: Earth is set to premiere on FX and FX on Hulu on August 12, 2025.[98]
Cast and crew
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Goran D. Kleut
Robert Bobroczkyi
Michael Bishop Weyland
Kezia BurrowsMC
Nicole FellowsY
Lucy HutchinsonY
"Mother / Father"
John Lebar
Daniel James
Principal cast
List indicators
This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in the franchise.
- An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
- C indicates a cameo role.
- E indicates an appearance not included in the theatrical cut.
- MC indicates a motion-capture-only role.
- P indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs.
- U indicates an uncredited appearance.
- V indicates a voice-only role.
- Y indicates a younger version of the character.
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