Alien series shooting without Ripley

James Cameron's Aliens marks its 35th anniversary this year and Noah Hawley (Fargo) has shared details about his mysterious Alien spin-off series for FX on Hulu with Vanity Fair.

"What's next for me, it looks like, is [an] Alien series for FX, taking on that franchise and those amazing films by Ridley Scott and James Cameron and David Fincher," Hawley said. "I've written a couple of scripts, the first two scripts, and we're looking to make them next spring."

If you are hoping for a cameo from Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), a la Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in Disney stablemate The Mandalorian, you may be deeply disappointed.

"It's not a Ripley story," he added. "She's one of the great characters of all time, and I think the story has been told pretty perfectly, and I don't want to mess with it."

This may be a misdirect as Weaver could be de-aged for the FX on Hulu and Star on Disney+ series. Regardless, I want to be surprised and Nick Smith recently wrote about his hopes and fears for the upcoming Alien series.

Whilst many fans (myself included) of the franchise lament never seeing Neill Blomkamp's (District 9) Alien 5, I'm hopeful this spin-off series will surpass Sir Ridley Scott's prequels as it focuses on humanities parasitic past and AI-dominated technological future.

Prometheus is available to stream on Star on Disney+. The original Alien and Aliens are coming soon to the House of Mouse's streaming service in the UK.

First look at Timothée Chalamet in Dune

Vanity Fair has released the first enigmatic photo from director Denis Villeneuve's (Blade Runner 2049) highly-anticipated Dune remake depicting Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides. The role was previously played by Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) in David Lynch's movie adaptation of Frank Herbert's novels.

Chalamet instantly reminded me of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) from the Star Wars sequels. The Dune novels influenced George Lucas' space opera.

“The immediately appealing thing about Paul was the fact that in a story of such detail and scale and world-building, the protagonist is on an anti-hero’s-journey of sorts,” Chalamet told Vanity Fair.

“He thinks he’s going to be sort of a young general studying his father and his leadership of a fighting force before he comes of age, hopefully a decade later, or something like that.”

In the movie, Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and Rebecca Ferguson play Paul's parents Duke Leto and Lady Jessica Atreides respectively, whilst Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame) is Gurney Halleck, a veteran soldier mentoring Paul in the ways of war.

“Dune was made by people from all over the world. Many of these people are like family to me, and they’re very much in my thoughts,” Villeneuve said. “I’m so proud to showcase their hard work. I look forward to a time when we can all get together again as Dune was made to be seen on the big screen.”

Dune, part one of two instalments, is in cinemas 18th December. Hopefully, it will fill the void vacated by Star Wars more successfully than Lynch's film in 1984. Infamously, Dune merchandise piled up in toy store bargain bins as kids (myself included) had no interest following the conclusion of the Star Wars saga the year before with Return of the Jedi.

Vanity Fair goes behind-the-scenes of The Last Jedi

Fresh from publishing four variant covers to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars this week. Vanity Fair goes behind-the-scenes of Star Wars: The Last Jedi with exclusive photos, taken by Annie Leibovitz, and a video.



Fans get their first glimpse of Laura Dern and Benicio Del Toro, playing Vice Admiral Holdo and DJ respectively, in The Last Jedi.

Dern strikes an imperious pose, in stark contrast to her character's link to the Resistance, that evokes the opulent prequels. She recently attended a scoring session for The Last Jedi reuniting the Jurassic Park actress with composer John Williams.



Del Toro is channelling a Replicant from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.



Director Rian Johnson gives an insight into his approach to the Star Wars sequel, saying, “I started by writing the names of each of the characters, and thinking, ‘What’s the hardest thing they could be faced with?'”

On the subject of Rey’s training parallelling Luke's on Dagobah, Johnson teases, “There’s a training element to it, but it’s not exactly what you would expect.”

It's heartbreaking when Kathleen Kennedy suggests Carrie Fisher may have had a bigger role in Episode IX, which closes the Star Wars sequel trilogy. “The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘I’d better be at the forefront of IX!’” Kennedy remembers. “Because Harrison was front and center on VII, and Mark is front and center on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. And it would have been.”

Be sure to visit Vanity Fair for the full story here.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in cinemas on 15th December.

Vanity Fair covers the 40th anniversary of Star Wars

Annie Leibovitz has photographed Star Wars actors since capturing the cast of The Phantom Menace in 1999. Subsequently the famed photographer's lavish photo shoots have become a tradition.

Now, Vanity Fair has released four variant covers to commemorate the 40th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

The first is Rey and Luke, the second is Captain Phasma, Kylo Ren, and General Hux, the third is Poe Dameron, Finn, and Rose Tico, and the fourth is General Leia. Most notably Carrie Fisher has a cover all of her own. This is in tribute to the late actress and her final appearance in the upcoming The Last Jedi.

The grouping of characters suggests the story structure of The Empire Strikes Back.

Leibovitz’s full photo shoot will be online Wednesday, along with a story on the making of Rian Johnson's upcoming sequel to The Force Awakens.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives in cinemas 15th December.

John Williams on scoring The Force Awakens

John Williams' soundtrack for Star Wars sparked a lifelong passion for film music.

I'll never forget being gifted a copy of the original soundtrack album for my sixth birthday and religiously listening to it - playing with action figures or reading comic books - as I convalesced post head injury. The music fired my imagination and, perhaps most importantly, encouraged optimism for the future and adventures unknown.

The Oscar-winning composer talks to Vanity Fair's Bruce Handy about returning to a galaxy far, far away and reprising familiar themes from the original trilogy for The Force Awakens.

Here's an extract from the interview in which Williams contrasts working with George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, and JJ Abrams:

"It’s actually very similar. My meetings with George had to do with spotting the film, selecting areas in which music would be played, and pretty much we agreed on all that. He always left me free to write the music. And J.J.’s done the same thing. We've had a few preliminary meetings, and I've played him some music at the piano, which he seemed to like very much. His latest instruction to me was, “Just do your thing.” Which is giving me a good sense of freedom, a good free swing at the ball. I don't know how much you know of him, but he is a delightful person. Enormously bright. I've been very impressed with him in meetings with a great variety of people. His generalship is assured and warm and inviting and inclusive. If I can say it, he’s a fabulous young man whose future is so brilliant and so promising. I don't know how old he is, but he’s a young man to me. [Abrams is 48; Williams is 83.] He’s enormously impressive."

You can read the full interview here.