While he's mostly been concerned with original projects such as District 9, Elysium and the upcoming Chappie, director Neill Blomkamp is officially set to fill some bigger sci-fi shoes.
ComingSoon reports that the South African director is confirmed to direct a sequel to 1979's Alien, the sci-fi film that made Sigourney Weaver a star.
Blomkamp, who recently worked with Weaver on the set of Chappie, said that she is aware of the project, but it's unclear if she'll appear.
“[Sigourney] knows about it,” he said, "and part of it was just inspired by speaking to her on set when we were filming ‘Chappie,’ and getting her thoughts on ‘Alien’ and what she thought of the movies that came after ‘Aliens’ and what she felt about Ripley and what was incomplete for her about Ripley. There was so much fuel in what she was telling me.”
20th Century Fox confirmed the news and, according to Deadline, original director Ridley Scott will be executive producing under his Scott Free banner.
The project gained heat earlier this year when Blomkamp posted unofficial concept art for his vision of Alien on his Instagram account. Today he posted a new image and officially confirmed his involvement.
"So I think it's officially my next film," he wrote.
Fox also made clear that Blomkamp's film will not be the Prometheus sequel, set for release on March 4, 2016, but instead will be a direct sequel to the Alien franchise and will take place after the events of Prometheus 2.
Blomkamp's current film, Chappie, hits theaters March 6.
Image via Instagram from Neill Blomkamp.