New 'Alien' movie from director Fede Álvarez eyes 'Devs' alum Cailee Spaeny to take on starring role

Earlier this year, news broke that Don't Breathe director Fede Álvarez had been tapped to direct a new Alien movie, which would be produced by legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott and released on Hulu (though it's not clear at this point if the project is still bound for streaming, or might be eyeing a theatrical release).

Now, all these months later, we finally have a fresh update on the film, which is reportedly eyeing Devs and Pacific Rim Uprising alum Cailee Spaeny to star, writes Deadline.

No other details are available at this time, although it's been said the mystery title (hoping to kick off production in early 2023) will be narratively disconnected from previous chapters in the sci-fi horror saga Mr. Scott kicked off more than four decades ago. The most recent big screen outing, 2017's Alien: Covenant, attempted to blend the worlds of the polarizing Prometheus and much more popular Alien with mixed results.

RELATED: The 12 scariest sci-fi movies that aren't 'Alien'

Disney — which came into possession of the enduring Alien brand via its 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox (now rebranded to 20th Century Studios) — has also entered development on a small screen adaptation from Legion and Fargo creator, Noah Hawley. Set to premiere on FX sometime next year, the show will take place on Earth, B.R. (Before Ripley) and explore how unfettered corporate greed and ambition allowed the Xenomorph to run amok throughout the cosmos.

"It's going great. It's going slowly, unfortunately, given the scale of it," Hawley said back in January. "I've made a certain business out of reinvention. Alien is a fascinating story because it's not just a monster movie; it’s about how we're trapped between the primordial past and the artificial intelligence of our future, where both [are] trying to kill us. It’s set on Earth of the future. At this moment, I describe that as Edison versus Westinghouse versus Tesla. Someone’s going to monopolize electricity. We just don't know which one it is."

Over the summer, Hulu enjoyed *Borat voice* great success with Prey, a back-to-basics reboot of the Predator franchise (also part of 20th Century catalogue), which currently holds the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of any entry in the film series. No doubt the Mouse House hopes to pull out a similar victory with Álvarez's cinematic take on Facehuggers, Chestbursters, and Xenomorphs. As we all know, the Alien mythos has struggled to hit a chord with audiences since James Cameron's seminal 1986 follow-up.

"They made it too complicated and they brought in too many other elements," author, documentarian, and Alien scholar Ian Nathan told SYFY WIRE in early September when asked about the uphill battle to recapture the magic of Alien and Aliens. "Even Ridley, and I love Ridley. I’ve written books about him and I really love his films, but you look at Prometheus and Alien: Covenant and you think, ‘Why is it so fussy? Why are we talking about artificial humans?’ [Alien] is really an afterthought, and you're just missing the point.' You just want someone to come in and go, ‘Well, throw all that stuff out, tell a great survival story — just move it to a new location.’"

Want more extra-terrestrial hijinks in the meantime? The first two seasons of Resident Alien are now streaming on Peacock.