Last year, 20th Century Studios revealed that Prey, an original film set in the Predator universe, will arrive on Hulu later this summer. Now, it’s the Xenomorphs’ turn to get a Hulu original film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fede Álvarez has signed on to write and direct a stand-alone Alien film for Hulu.
Álvarez previously directed an intense reboot of Evil Dead in 2013 that brought the series back to its horror roots. He went on to direct another hit horror flick, Don’t Breathe. Álvarez recently co-wrote and produced Netflix’s remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Ridley Scott helmed the original Alien film in 1979, which played out like a horror movie set in space. That film also transformed Sigourney Weaver into a star for her portrayal of Ellen Ripley. She was the only survivor of the starship Nostromo, which had a disastrous encounter with a Xenomorph after one of Ripley’s crewmates was infected by a facehugger alien.
More recently, Scott returned to helm two Alien prequels: Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Although the new film isn’t connected to Scott’s prequel storyline, he is attached as an executive producer to Hulu’s Alien movie through his Scott Free production studio. This project will also be the first Alien film produced by 20th Century Studios since Disney purchased it in 2019.
THR notes that “Álvarez is a rabid fan of the franchise and casually pitched a take to Scott many years ago.” In fact, it was Scott who set the new film in motion by approaching Álvarez and asking him if he still wanted to make that movie.
According to 20th Century Studios head Steve Asbell, the new Alien film was given a green light “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch. It was just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”
So far, Álvarez’s Alien film does not have a release date. But it could conceivably begin filming either this year or in 2023.
