James Cameron Says “You Couldn’t Pay Me Enough” to Return to ‘Alien’ Franchise

Alien: Romulus and Alien: Earth may have confirmed that there’s still lots of interest in the Alien franchise among fans, but one person who isn’t entirely excited about the series is Aliens director James Cameron. The filmmaker did point out what he likes about the various new projects in the franchise, and while original Alien director Ridley Scott returned to the franchise after decades away for Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Cameron thinks the mythology is too driven by fan storylines and that there isn’t a big enough paycheck that could get him to make another Alien.

Cameron revealed his thoughts about the series on Aliens star Michael Biehn’s podcast Just Foolin’ About:

“You couldn’t pay me enough money to go back to that franchise. It’s almost become fan-driven at this point.”

The filmmaker’s remarks about the series being fan-driven are likely less about the enthusiasm from fans and more that he feels new storylines feel more like imitations of the more successful elements of the franchise as opposed to new perspectives, akin to how fan-fiction can feel derivative of the source material. Despite not wanting to personally return, the Avatar director did note what he liked about more recent incarnations:

“The new Alien: Earth is pretty good. They’ve got a lot of the DNA from Ridley’s film, from ours and also from [David] Fincher’s [Alien 3] as well. Some of those aggressive POVs.”

Speaking of Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, Cameron noted, “Yeah, I’ve seen it. I like parts of it. I think it’s inventive, it’s different.” He added, “Fede did something interesting, as well. I particularly like the scene where they’re weightless, floating in between the globs of floating alien acid, which is pretty nightmarish and well done.”

Cameron even spoke to Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5, which he was trying to get made for quite some time, which would have been an alternate timeline in which Biehn’s Hicks survived the opening of Alien 3 alongside Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley. Cameron pointed out:

“I don’t know anything about that. I know Neill, kind of at a remove, he and I have corresponded a bit. I don’t know the details of that one, but he’s a very inventive guy, Neil. He probably would have done something interesting.”

The Future of ‘Alien’

As compared to other sci-fi franchises, Alien isn’t necessarily being developed at an exponential rate. Prior to Romulus, which hit theaters in 2024, the previous movie in the series was Alien: Covenant in 2017. With Romulus performing well both critically and financially, Álvarez is developing a sequel, which he won’t direct. Given that Romulus is more of a spin-off than a direct sequel, this leaves it open for other filmmakers to potentially develop further spin-offs.

On the TV front, Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth was a hit with critics and slowly but surely built up a substantial viewership. A Season 2 of the series has officially been ordered.

Another iconic sci-fi franchise, Predator, previously saw similar struggles to those faced by Alien, only for the recent Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers, and Predator: Badlands to build up momentum for the series. With the two properties previously having collided, fans are wondering if another crossover project could be on the horizon.