'Alien' TV Series Rumored to Be in the Works

If you're wondering what's coming next for the Alien franchise, rumor has that we could be seeing an Alien TV series coming to the small screen soon.

Omega Underground reports that they have multiple sources telling them that a TV series set within the Alien universe is being considered by 20th Century Fox. There are no details about what the series could be, but reportedly there's a dilemma about where the series would air, either on a network like FX, or through a streaming service. Right now it's said to be in the very early stages of development, so take all of this with a grain of salt until we start to hear more official confirmation.

Speculation about the show and the limits of its budget is already leaning towards a series about colonists or colonial marines within the Alien universe. The series could indeed feature Xenomorphs from time-to-time, but also open the storyline up to new extraterrestrial threats, or possibly tying the Alien series a little closer to its cousins in the Prometheus saga, with threats like alien viruses or advance races like The Engineers.

Interest in the Alien franchise has been cooling for years, with very little done to hook viewers back in. After the abysmal AVP films of the 2000s, Ridley Scott tried to expand the vision of the franchise by interesting the Xenomorph creators, The Engineers, in the 2012 (semi-)prequel film, Prometheus. That movie angered a lot of hardcore fans with its pontifications about godhood and mankind's origins, so Scott followed with the bridge piece that was Alien: Covenant, though that film came off as uninspired and still off the mark from what a lot of fans expected from this iconic sci-fi/horror franchise.

As of now, Scott's planned series of follow-up films are in limbo, and the hope fans had for District 9 director Neil Blomkamp's Aliens sequel has all but dried up. Looming over all of this is the potential deal between Disney and 20th Century Fox, which could mean big changes for the Alien franchise. Here's what Ridley Scott had to say about that game-changing merger:

"It looks to me that the Fox deal is certainly going to go ahead with Disney, and I've been with Fox for a number years now. I'm hoping I'll still probably be there so whether or not they go ahead with such a dark subject, being Disney, as aliens remains to be seen."

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What do you think should happen next with the Alien franchise? Would a TV series be something you'd watch? If so, what should it be about? Let us know in the comments!

While Alien is in cryo-sleep right now, Fox will release the next installment of The Predator in theaters on September 14th.