The Gone World. Blomkamp was first reported to be attached to the project back in 2015.

Based on the novel by Thomas Sweterlitsch, The Gone World is a "time travel procedural" described as Inception meets True Detective (the title sounds a little more like a certain Gillian Flynn book adapted by David Fincher). The plot follows a special agent named Shannon Moss as she investigates the murder of a Navy SEAL's family and discovers that the SEAL was aboard a spaceship that disappeared into a time-warping dimension called "Deep Time." Moss herself travels forward in time to help solve the mystery and discovers that the whole of humanity is headed toward an unspeakable calamity.

The Gone World novel is set to be released in early 2018 but, as he revealed to fans in a tweet, Neill Blomkamp already has his hands on it so he can begin work on the adaptation:

This just arrived. Truly incredible book by @LetterSwitch . So excited to direct this for @20thcenturyfox pic.twitter.com/kKxyFnhWhM— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) July 24, 2017

The Gone World will be Blomkamp's first film since 2015's Chappie, a movie that proved to be a push forward with Alien: Covenant.

When Blomkamp fans hear the words "science fiction" and "new project" what they really want to hear is that Fox has decided to reverse course and let the director have reassessing the Alien franchise's future after Covenant underperformed financially). Perhaps Blomkamp could resurrect the Alien franchise, but all things being equal, he might be better off tackling a non-franchise property like The Gone World that won't have a producer like Scott looking over his shoulder. The plot description makes this sound like a perfect story for Blomkamp to relaunch his feature career, after things went off the rails with Chappie.

While Blomkamp's followers endure what is sure to be a long wait for The Gone World, they can continue sampling the filmmaker's unique and imaginative approach to sci-fi via his Oates Studio project. Blomkamp's last short film Zygote, a nod to John Carpenter's The Thing, features Dakota Fanning being hunted down by a creature in an Arctic mining site.

NEXT: Neill Blomkamp Wants to Finish District 9's Story

Source: Neill Blomkamp