An ill-fated remake of the cult ’80s science-fiction movie Alien Nation is recalled by its director. Released in 1988, Alien Nation was directed by Graham Baker and starred James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, and Kevyn Major Howard. The movie’s plot imagines an alternate reality of 1988 when humans make their first contact with aliens, and then three years later, become gradually integrated into human society. At one point, director Jeff Nichols was attached to remake the sci-fi cult classic, but those plans have seemingly been scrapped.
In conversation with Josh Horowitz during the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Nichols reveals what happened to the scrapped Alien Nation remake, describing the loss of the production as a “heartbreaker.” According to the director, he felt they were “at the 1-yard line,” with a script and cast “ready to go” before the remake was scrapped. Check out the full quote from Nichols below:
“On the Alien Nation front, like that was a heartbreaker. That’s one of the reasons it’s taken me so long to make another film. I spent like four years on that. And we were at the 1-yard line. I had a cast, we were ready to go, but the universe didn’t want me to make that right then. And it’s kind of interesting because that was an original story I’d crafted, and they wanted to put the Alien Nation title on it, and fortunately now that script without the title has gone over to Paramount. Like after the strike lifts, I can get back to work on it. And you know, it’s kind of amazing working on something for so long, because I built this entire you know, alien species and all these other things. But it also takes place in Arkansas, and it actually feels like one of my films, but it might cost a lot of money. So it might be the worst experience of my entire life, I don’t know. But I’d love to make that film.”
The History Of Jeff Nichols’ Alien Nation Remake Explained
Nichols is the director of many movies in and outside the sci-fi genre, including Take Shelter, Loving, and Midnight Special. After his success with these sci-fi movies, Nichols’ remake of Alien Nation was announced in 2016. Later, Nichols clarified that the Alien Nation movie was not a remake of the 1988 sci-fi buddy cop film but rather part of a “bigger idea of [his] own” that Fox wanted to put the Alien Nation label on.
Nichols agreed to label his project as such, as he hoped that would give it “a chance to get made.” Even so, the movie ended up in production hell –at one point being floated as a ten-episode Alien Nation Disney series– and was then scrapped. The project’s abandonment is clearly still a blow to Nichols, who struggled “to make another film” in the absence of this project.
From Nichols’ statement, it sounds like the script on which the Alien Nation movie is based still has hope of being made as it transitions to Paramount. Between the studio change and production delays, the project may not have the same cast, but the world might see another genre-bending sci-fi from Nichols. The pre-development film may not be an Alien Nation remake, but hopefully, it can make it past the development hurdles this time around.
