Michael Shannon says Alien Nation remake could mutate into something else

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Jeff Nichols signed on to write and direct a remake of ALIEN NATION for 20th Century Fox close to four years ago, but Disney's acquisition of the studio put the project on pause. The original 1988 film introduced the Newcomers, an alien race who landed on Earth and were forced to live among the distrustful human population. The film starred James Caan as an LA police detective who finds himself partnered with a Newcomer played by Mandy Patinkin in order to solve a homicide.

Jeff Nichols had said that his take on ALIEN NATION was shaking up to be "epic" as well as the "biggest canvas [he's] ever painted on," and although nothing was official, it was highly likely that Nichols' frequent collaborator Michael Shannon would take on a starring role. Oh, what could have been. Michael Shannon recently spoke with THR about his upcoming film THE QUARRY, and touched upon Nichols' take on ALIEN NATION.

We’ve been talking a lot. Jeff has had a bit of a dry patch and not by his own preference. He’s really itching and scratching to make a film. He put a lot of time into this one particular project [Alien Nation] that he’d been writing for Fox, and then the Disney merger happened. Disney kinda said, “No, thanks.” So, we’re trying to pick up the pieces there, but he’s writing other scripts. He’s really anxious to make another picture; I can tell you that. I’m not exactly sure when or what it will be, but as soon as we can and as soon as this baffling situation allows us to do something, we will.

While the ALIEN NATION project may currently be dead at Disney, Shannon hinted that the project "might mutate into something else. I don’t know how much I should say about it, but all I’ll say is that it’s not necessarily entirely gone. It’s still kind of kicking around out there, but it might be something different." Listen, I'll take anything involving Jeff Nichols and Michael Shannon, whether it be the offspring of ALIEN NATION or something else entirely, just make it happen!