Alien: Paradise Lost has forced Neill Blomkamp to pause Alien 5

Ever since it was announced that Ridley Scott was moving forwards with a sequel to Prometheus, there has been speculation as to how that development might impact on Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5, originally scheduled to be the next movie in the broader franchise. And sure enough, Blomkamp has now confirmed that his plans are on hold, with Alien: Paradise Lost now taking priority.

“Alien is kinda holding/pending Prometheus 2,” said the director via his Twitter feed. “So I shall be working on other things... as much as I love the xeno- and Lt Ripley.” All of which feels a little inevitable, given the fact that Scott was always going to trump Blomkamp when push came to shove over which of the two projects would take precedence.

Scott remains a producer on Alien 5, although just what will happen to that project now (and indeed, whether Blomkamp will hang around for it) remains to be seen. What we do know is that filming on Alien: Paradise Lost will begin next year, ahead of a release date on May 30 2017.

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.