Just last week some news circulated that wasn’t news. A writer at Deadline speculated that Ridley Scott‘s next installment of Alien was still in the cards. It was picked up by several sites and reported as fact, when in fact, it was not. However, tonight’s news is that of fact and comes from the ongoing CinemaCon in Las Vegas. As BMD‘s Scott Wampler noted, the Alien franchise was name-checked in a huge way.

According to several verified writers (a sampling can be found below) on hand at the Disney panel, not only was footage of Alien: Covenant shown during their sizzle reel, but Fox’s Emma Watts stated that there’s a plan to deliver new chapters in a set of franchises – including Alien and even Planet of the Apes (@russfischer). In fact, Predator was even included in the sizzle reel so…you never know!

The Alien franchise is an interesting one since Ridley Scott never completed his planned trilogy/quadrilogy. Before Alien: Covenant‘s release, Scott had openly talked about Alien: Awakening, which would take us to the colonized planet that was soon-to-be-infected by David’s creation. After Covenant‘s weak box office run, pre-production was shut down and then Disney’s acquisition of Fox appeared to put the final nail in the coffin.

Meanwhile, Fox continues to milk the brand with an excellent ongoing series of short films created by fans who were given special access to assets owned by Fox (watch the first episode here). It’s unclear as to whether this was set in motion prior to Disney’s acquisition, but it was seen through and is being delivered all this month. If Disney is to keep the Fox brand and allow them to continue forth with franchises not named Deadpool and X-Men, how blessed would we be to get another Alien film?

If Scott isn’t allowed to complete his story, it would be incredible to finally see Sigourney Weaver make her return in the once planned Neill Blomkamp directed sequel to Aliens – even if Disney enforces a PG-13 rating. Just give me the good stuff.

What do you all think?

Fox’s Emma Watts just said there’s a plan to deliver new chapters in a set of franchises – including ALIEN. — Russ Fischer (@russfischer) April 3, 2019

ALIEN namechecked in passing as a franchise that still has life in it. 👀 — Scott Wampler™ @ CinemaCon (@ScottWamplerBMD) April 3, 2019

Disney confirmed #Alien is one of the franchises they are actively continuing during their #CinemaCon presentation! @AlienAnthology pic.twitter.com/98zWVqlAp8 — Nicholas Whitcomb (@Whos_Nick) April 3, 2019

Alien and Planet of the Apes sound like they’re still in play at Disney, as they were highlighted onscreen at CinemaCon as franchises they are actively continuing to develop. — Exhibitor Relations Co. (@ERCboxoffice) April 3, 2019