Neill Blomkamp, the director of District 9 and Elysium, shared some concept art for an abandoned Alien film on his Instagram account in 2014. The artwork, titled Alien: Xeno, included some intriguing and eerie images of xenomorphs, the iconic Alien creatures. The artwork sparked excitement and speculation among Alien: Covenant fans, but the project was ultimately put on hold due to the release of Alien: Covenant. Regardless, the concept art is a fascinating look at what could have been a unique and exciting addition to the Alien universe.
The following is all speculation based on the concept art released:
Judging from the concept art, the film would most likely have taken part on / in the Weyland-Yutani corporate headquarters, which if you look at the concept art would have been absolutely huge. It could either be a space station or a building on earth or some other planet.
Weyland-Yutani
They managed to haul back the Derelict spaceship from Alien and Aliens back to the headquarters and are currently exploring its contents. In the headquarters there is also an area with some vegetation and something like an obelisk – whether this part of the Alien mythos or something else we have no clue.
The derelict
Someone finds something inside of the Derelict, which appears human shaped but misshapen – perhaps the black goo from Prometheus makes its appearance in this as well? We know it’s the Derelict due to the giant exhaust holes in the ship. The creature might as well be a space jockey?
Hicks also makes his appearance in the concept art. As much as I love the character of Hicks, he is unfortunately dead, unless you count the abomination which is Aliens Colonial Marines where they retconned the history of the series. Another question – why does Ripley have a bomb strapped to her? Are they on a mission to destroy the Derelict?
Hicks
Ripley and Hicks.
Then the one part I am not so sure of – the ‘Space Jockey space suit’ which looks like an Alien without its head in the middle. This is the one thing I am not so sure about. Sure it’s Rippley in a Alien suit that’s supposed to be the Space Jockey Pilot suit, but still, this doesn’t do it for me. If it was more Biomechanical then sure that would be great – but just using the Alien design and going “Hey space suit!” – I don’t like it.
The space jockey space suit
The new face huggers – I understand they want to go with something new. Point is don’t fix it if it isn’t broken – when you have a design as classic as the face hugger with their bony fingers reaching and wrapping their hands around your head and implanting their offspring into the host.
new face huggers
And the Alien Queen makes its appearance in the movie. The Queen is always a win in my book, especially with what the Weyland-Yutani corporate headquarters would have looked like.
The Alien Queen
All in all I am in two minds about this project; on the one hand I am glad it didn’t get made. I like the idea of showing Weyland-Yutani HQ. But bringing back Hicks and Ripley makes me sad. Are there no more original stories left to be told in the Alien universe? Look at Alien Isolation, sure it’s Ripley’s daughter but that was brilliant for me. I would enjoy a movie based on the story of Isolation, or even some other story based in the Alien universe. On the other hand it’s almost been 10 years since the last Alien movie was released and I would love to see a movie just about survivors fighting against the Alien. And if they can go back to the Alien 1 formula then that would be fantastic, as much as I enjoy Aliens, I miss the days when you didn’t know if the Alien was around the corner and where it was hiding.
What are your thoughts on the concept art from Neill Blomkamp’s Alien Movie? We’d love to hear your thoughts so please leave us a comment.
