The original 1988 Alien Nation film tackled numerous topics such as xenophobia and racism. It took the trend of buddy cop films and combined it with the popular '80s science fiction genre, doing something totally unique with both.
After being a successful theatrical release, it was turned into a short lived television series the year after. It was quickly cancelled and the property has sat dormant for decades. With a planned reboot shot down after Disney purchased the Fox brand, it now looks like they may push ahead with a remake that would be a limited run event series. Jeff Nichols says he's currently working on adapting it for Disney when speaking with the Team Deakins podcast. After killing the movie relaunch, the returned to him and asked him to find a way to adapt it.
When speaking with SlashFilm he had this to say about the potential project:
“So 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.”
This would be the first television credit for Nichols who made films like Take Shelter, Midnight Special, and Mud. We're really not sure where this would fit in for Disney since their streaming service is obviously family oriented and Alien Nation was more adult themed and violent.
-CG