The Alien franchise has been a classic sci-fi staple since its inception in 1979, but director James Cameron never returned to the successful franchise after co-writing and directing Aliens — here's why. Initially developed and brought to the screen by Ridley Scott, the Alien franchise sees warrant officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) battle it out with a terrifying extraterrestrial species known as Xenomorphs. All in all, the main narrative has seen four feature films, each starring Weaver as Ripley. However, there have also been crossover movies with the Predator franchise and a prequel movie series.
While Ridley Scott was the original source for Alien, James Cameron took over for the sequel, Aliens. If possible, the second movie sured its predecessor and is often hailed as one of the best sci-fi action movies of all time. In Cameron's hands, the Alien franchise grew past its roots, and its impact is even discussed in unrelated properties like Avengers: Infinity War. Ridley Scott came back to direct the prequel films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, and with a new Alien movie on the horizon, hopes were high that Cameron would return. However, James Cameron never came back to Alien.
Avatar Means James Cameron Won't Come Back To Alien
The reason that James Cameron probably won't ever direct another Alien movie is because of his deep ties to the Avatar franchise. Cameron has several successful franchises under his belt, like Terminator. However, Cameron's bread and butter has to be the expansive Avatar series, which has three more sequels planned dating all the way out to 2028. All in all, the Avatar franchise has made a whopping $2.9 billion, making it Cameron's most successful venture to date. With such a subversive world to cover, it's no wonder that he hasn't revisited Alien.
Cameron basically stated this himself in an interview with Famous Monsters (via Avatar 2 pop.
James Cameron Already Backed Out Of Alien 5
Funnily enough, James Cameron almost came back to the Alien franchise to pen the original Alien 5 that was supposed to follow Alien: Resurrection in 1997 but backed out for a fairly interesting reason. Due to Resurrection's poor reception, studios decided they didn't want to follow Joss Whedon's original plan for Alien 5. Weaver stated that she would be interested in reprising the role if James Cameron or Ridley Scott were involved, and Cameron started penning a script for Alien 5 with an unnamed writer. Eventually, the studio approached Cameron with the script for Alien vs. Predator, stating this would be the movie they make next.
James Cameron wasn't too keen on the idea of Alien vs. Predator, believing that the crossover movie would cheapen the franchise, and saw the endeavor as a senseless cash-grab that would tank the series. Therefore, Cameron backed out of making Alien 5. In the end, he reportedly did enjoy AVP, but it seems as though he's too engrossed in the world of Avatar to find a place in the Alien franchise. Instead, Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead) will be ing the series as the director of the newest Alien movie, set to debut in 2024, with Ridley Scott producing.
