Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Aliens: What If?… #1-2! Veteran Alien fans will remember actor/comedian/writer Paul Reiser for his role as Carter Burke in the 1986 film Aliens, and new and old fans alike are currently enjoying the character’s further adventures in 20th Century Studios’ Aliens: What If?…, which imagines an alternate reality where Burke makes it off Hadley’s Hope alive. And now, Reiser has expressed interest in using this ongoing comic book series as a launching-off point for a new Alien TV show – something that may be more likely than fans think.
In an interview with AIPT Comics about the ongoing Aliens: What If?… (of which Paul Reiser is a co-writer), Reiser talks about breaking into the professional world of comic books for the first time, especially given that his experience primarily lies in films and television. However, it doesn’t take long for Reiser to circle back toward his area of expertise, as he teases that this comic series may lead to a TV adaptation.
Paul Reiser: The idea of taking a film, turning it into a comic book, expanding the world of it, with an eye toward potentially making it a TV show. Like, that’s really challenging and an exciting goal.
AIPT Comics goes on to say that Reiser’s hopeful television series may someday happen, before moving on with the interview. But, how likely is something like that? 20th Century Studios is under the Marvel Comics umbrella, and Marvel famously has a What If? television series on Disney+, so Reiser’s hope for this Aliens: What If?… series isn’t unfounded by any means. In fact, it may very well be a perfect move for the franchise.
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Aliens: What If?… is About More Than Just Carter Burke, & Could Be Perfect for TV
Aliens: What If?… #1-2 by Paul Reiser, Leon Reiser, Adam F. Goldberg, Hans Rodionoff, Brian Volk-Weiss, and Guiu Vilanova
Aliens: What If?… follows a disgraced Carter Burke who’s living out the remainder of his days on an asteroid settlement at the far end of the galaxy. While he survived the events of Aliens, Weyland-Yutani blamed him for the Xenomorph outbreak that took the lives of hundreds, making him the most universally despised person since Judas. However, things start looking up for Burke after he gets his hands on a Xenomorph egg, as he plans to use it to do something good for humanity in the hopes of clearing his name of past atrocities (for which he’s only slightly responsible).
While it’s obvious that Aliens: What If?… is about Carter Burke, the series is already so much more than just ‘him’. For instance, Burke only got his Ovomorph after his personal synthetic traveled across the cosmos for decades looking for one, encountering all manner of Xenomorph-hybrid creatures along the way. That alone is a story worthy of a TV show, as every Xenomorph-hybrid the synthetic encounters is more interesting than the last. In fact, if this hypothetical series were to go that route, then Disney/20th Century Studios could do something that would make ‘90s kids absolutely ecstatic.
Disney/20th Century Studios Has a Chance to Redeem a Decades-Old Disappointment
Operation: Aliens
Aliens: Space Marines was a comic book series published by Kenner Products in collaboration with Dark Horse Comics. Each issue was sold in the packaging of an Aliens action figure, which gave children who played with these toys some backstory on the figures (given that Aliens was decidedly too mature to base an entire kids’ toy line on). While the Kenner Comics were assuredly just a cheap marketing method to sell toys, they were actually fantastic mini-comics with eye-catching artwork and pretty solid storytelling.
The reason Aliens: Space Marines is important is that it nearly did what Aliens: What If?… is hoping to do now: it almost got a television adaptation. Kenner reportedly had an idea for a series called Operation: Aliens, which would have more or less been an adaptation of Aliens: Space Marines, and would have helped the company sell more toys just like other major cartoons of the era – like He-Man or TMNT. Apparently, however, Operation: Aliens was far from ever getting off the ground, with alleged stills from the pilot episode being confirmed as merely images from an unaired commercial.
Operation: Aliens didn’t happen, despite the relative success of the Aliens: Space Marines toy line, and the lasting legacy of the Kenner Comics themselves. However, if Aliens: What If?… got turned into a TV series (specifically an animated one), then it could conceivably branch off into what Operation: Aliens could have been. Burke’s synthetic essentially went on an ‘Operation: Aliens’ adventure in Aliens: What If?…, and the time periods line up between Aliens: What If?… and the era in which Operation: Aliens would have been set (following the events of 1986’s Aliens).
It’s already been established that Aliens: What If?… is about more than just Carter Burke, and the Xenomorph variants Burke’s synthetic encountered in issue #2 was seemingly pulled straight out of Aliens: Space Marines. So, if Paul Reiser got his wish, and Aliens: What If?… did become a television series, then Disney/20th Century Studios would have the chance to redeem a decades-old disappointment by effectively making Operation: Aliens a reality.
Expanding the Alien Universe with this What If? Story Could Give Fans the Crossover They’ve Always Wanted
An Aliens: What If?… show could confirm that Alien and Blade Runner exist in the same universe!
One of the biggest selling points for this potential TV series is that it would take place outside the main Alien continuity, meaning it would be allowed to experiment with certain storylines and potential crossovers that Alien purists may not accept as official canon, but would still be incredible to see. And one of those ‘potential crossovers’ has already been alluded to in this Aliens: What If?… comic: Blade Runner.
In Aliens: What If?… #2, Burke refers to his synthetic as a ‘Replicant’. Replicants are androids (which is an oversimplification, but anyway) that exist in the Blade Runner universe. Synthetics have never been referred to as Replicants in Alien history, which is interesting, given that fans have theorized that those two franchises exist in the same universe. Both 1979’s Alien and 1982’s Blade Runner were directed by Ridley Scott, and there are a number of nods and easter eggs that can be found between the two franchises.
Burke referring to his synthetic as a ‘Replicant’ is assuredly nothing more than just another one of those ‘nods’, a fun continuation of something Ridley Scott did in the early days of those franchises. However, if Aliens: What If?… got its own series, then it’d have much more room to explore this seemingly off-handed comment, and maybe even confirm that Alien and Blade Runner do, in fact, exist in the same universe. And the best part? It wouldn’t even affect the canon of either franchise, since this would exist in an entirely separate ‘What If?’ continuity.
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While the idea of Aliens: What If?… getting a TV show adaptation may have initially seemed like a pipe dream, there seems to be a great number of reasons why it would actually be absolutely amazing, and should happen as soon as possible. From the expansion of Alien lore from an alt-universe perspective, to the potential pay-off of a decades-old disappointment, to even the confirmation of a massive crossover fans have been theorizing for years, the prospect of Aliens: What If?… becoming a new Alien TV show is “an exciting goal”, indeed – one fans should hope Paul Reiser will accomplish.
Aliens: What If?… #1-2 by 20th Century Studios are available now.
Source: AIPT Comics
Source: IntermissionSociety/YouTube
Alien
- Comic Release Date:
- 213775,213776,655101
- First Film:
- Alien (1979)
- Cast:
- Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Pete Postlethwaite, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir
- TV Show(s):
- Alien
- Movie(s):
- Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Prometheus (2012), Alien: Covenant (2017), Alien: Romulus (2024)
- Character(s):
- Ellen Ripley, Arthur Dallas, Joan Lambert, Brett (Alien), Gilbert Kane, Ash (Alien), Dennis Parker, Corporal Hicks, Carter Burke, Bishop (Alien), Rebecca ‘Newt’ Jorden, Private Hudson, Dillon (Alien), Clemens (Alien), Bishop II, David (Alien), Annalee Call, Johner (Alien), General Perez, Elizabeth Shaw, Meredith Vickers, Janek (Alien), Peter Weyland, Walter (alien) Daniels (Alien), Christopher Oram, Tennessee, Lope (Alien)
- Video Game(s):
- Alien: Isolation (2014), Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013), Aliens vs. Predator (2010), Aliens vs. Predator 2 (2001), Aliens vs. Predator (1999), Alien 3: The Gun (1993), Alien 3 (1992), Aliens (1990), Aliens: The Computer Game (1986), Alien (1984)
