RUMOR: Animated ‘Alien: Isolation’ TV Series Coming

Alien
The Alien: Isolation video game from Creative Assembly and SEGA is one of the most acclaimed things to come out of the franchise in recent years. Now, it’s looking like an animated version of that story might just be getting developed for television.

 

According to Observer, a seven-episode animated adaptation of Alien: Isolation is coming soon. This appears to be in addition to the two Alien shows that are apparently already in development, as those are both directly stated to be live-action projects. Right now, it’s not clear if it’s going to be a direct adaptation of the events of the game or a new story with the same characters, but Axis Animation, who did VFX work on Isolation, are involved in the process. The TV-MA series could start airing as soon as April of this year, perhaps in time for Alien Day (April 26), and may stream through the official Alien website.

 

Isolation is set 15 years after the original Alien. It stars Amanda Ripley, a Weyland-Yutani engineer who continues to search for answers to what happened to her mother Ellen, the sole survivor of the Xenomorph incident that killed the crew of the Nostromo. When Amanda discovers the Nostromo‘s flight recorder, it gives her a bearing to head toward the Sevastopol Station… Where she discovers all too late that a Xenomorph has killed everyone aboard, and creature is now turning to her. Armed with minimal weaponry, Amanda has to evade the Xenomorph when she can, and hide when cornered. As she fights to survive, she discovers a dark conspiracy connecting Weyland-Yutani to the deadly species as she finds answers about her mother’s fate.

 

With Disney’s coming acquisition of Fox underway, and both companies intending to become a streaming giant that can rival the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, having the Alien franchise find a home on streaming and online television is probably the smartest option to take at this point. Alien: Covenant barely broke even against one of the franchise’s largest budgets, and it seems like it’s going to take a major event movie to put the franchise on the map theatrically – which is why Neill Blomkamp’s proposed Aliens sequel, which has the attention of Aliens director James Cameron, seems like a smart option, especially after the success of last year’s Halloween (which ignored several controversial and unpopular sequels in favor of delivering a direct sequel to the original film). For now, rebuilding brand trust in the Alien franchise through the small screen seems like a smart first step toward securing the future of the series.