Alien Nation: Jeff Nichols’ remake idea may become a Disney TV series

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Midnight Special (watch it HERE) filmmaker Jeff Nichols spent three years working on a remake of the 1988 sci-fi thriller Alien Nation (check that one out HERE) for 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired the studio and halted development on Nichols' project. But this isn't necessarily a story of disappointment and wasted time. Nichols' frequent collaborator Michael Shannon has previously said they could take elements of the remake idea and turn it into an original story – but Nichols might not even have to. During a conversation on legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins' podcast Team Deakins, Nichols revealed that Disney has come back to him and asked if he could turn his Alien Nation story into a TV show.

Referring to Alien Nation as "a possible series that might happen in the near future", Nichols said, 

I have taken it and broken it into ten episodes, and it’s under consideration right now. Who knows, people in far more powerful positions than me are deciding that. One of the tricks is, I want to shoot it like a giant film, and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get away with that."

Written by Rockne S. O'Bannon, the '88 movie starred James Caan and Mandy Patinkin in a story that

finds Los Angeles the new home of 300,000 humanoid extraterrestrial. When a gang of these Newcomers kills a police detective's (Caan) partner, he sets out to solve the crime with his new partner (Patinkin) – the L.A.P.D.'s first Newcomer detective. But the unlikely pair soon uncover a far more dangerous threat to society. 

Nichols has never revealed the details on his take, but he has said that it's 

the biggest canvas I’ve ever painted on, but it 100 percent feels like a Jeff Nichols film, which I’m sure there are gonna be some Alien Nation fans out there that are like, “What the f*ck?” But my hope is if they … If people come to it just ready for a new story, that they’ll like it. And I put my heart and soul into it. To be the project that’s supposed to be me being a sell out, it is like the least … I’m not saying that to save face or be cool. I put so much of myself into it, it takes place in (Nichols' home state) Arkansas. There’s so much of me in it."

On the Deakins podcast, he said, 

I spent three years building out an entire alien civilization and this situation and this setup and all these characters, and it’s really what I’ve been doing for a long time."

He has put so much work into this, I really hope Disney will decide to move forward with the TV series version of his idea. If this happens, it will be the second Alien Nation TV show. The first one aired on Fox back in 1989 – 1990. Five TV movies followed in the mid-to-late '90s.