What is the Alien/Predator Universe now?

[tmc...@gmail.com]

https://ohilodude.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/what-is-the-alienpredator-universe-now/

Posted on February 28, 2015

So a while back, I wrote an editorial explaining all the many connections between the films set in the Alien/Predator Universe, as well as clearing up which films are set in that universe. If you have not read that yet, you can read it here.

https://ohilodude.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/what-exactly-is-the-alienpredator-universe/

But recently, Fox has announced they will be making a new Alien film, with Neill Blomkamp (District 9) directing it.

This is great, as Neill Blomkamp is an excellent sci-fi director. However, with this announcement, Fox has also announced some things about this film that will be changing the canon of the Alien/Predator Universe entirely.

Firstly, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection will be completely ignored in this new Alien film. Neill Blomkamp will be picking up where Aliens (1985) left off and says it will be a direct sequel to that film. So Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection are out, but Alien and Aliens are still in.

Fox also said they still fully intend to go forward with making Prometheus 2. So this thereby confirms that Prometheus (2012) is still canon.

And since Prometheus has all those connections to Blade Runner, that means Blade Runner still exists in this continuity as well. All that is great!

But there's even more! Shane Black, the director of the upcoming new Predator film, stated that his Predator movie will be a direct follow-up to Predator and Predator 2, and will ignore the events of Predators (2010) as well as the Alien vs. Predator movies.

Also, it's been brought to my attention that a lot of the events of Prometheus directly contradict things that happen in Alien vs. Predator, so this already made sense anyway.

So does this take Predator and Predator 2 out of continuity as well, and put them in their own universe? The answer is no, because remember: That Xenomorph skull was still in Predator 2 whether the AVP movies happened or not.

And also, the crime-driven state of Los Angeles in Predator 2 perfectly leads into the way LA is in Blade Runner.

Therefore, Predator and Predator 2 are still very much set in the same universe as Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, and Blade Runner.

Basically, all the, for the most part, poorly received Alien/Predator films have been taken out of official canon. Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Predators, Alien vs. Predator, and Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem are all deemed to have never happened now...Or have they?

What we have here is an example of alternate universes. We know that the Neill Blomkamp's Alien film can't be in the same universe as Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, we know that Shane Black's Predator film can't be in the same universe as Predators, and we know that Prometheus and Blade Runner can't be set in the same universe as AVP.

However, Predator, Predator 2, Alien, and Aliens can all still exist in the same universe as all of these films I mentioned. So with all these things being considered, the new timeline would probably look something like this:
https://ohilodude.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/fullsizerender-2.jpg?w=584

There. I think that makes sense. It all seems to diverge and converge very nicely. To be honest, I'm actually kind of glad this has happened, because this universe had a lot going on just all over the place before this. You can probably tell this from my original explanation of the Alien/Predator Universe.

https://ohilodude.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/what-exactly-is-the-alienpredator-universe/

Also, it was recently announced that Harrison Ford will be returning for a Blade Runner sequel, and Prisoners director Denis Villeneuve will be directing it. So I guess that can be added to the timeline as well.