Alien 5 concept art shows what Neill Blomkamp’s scrapped movie might have looked like

New concept art for Neill Blomkamp’s unmade Alien sequel – AKA Alien 5 – has surfaced. Honestly? It’s made us a little sad the movie never got made.

As featured on artist Geoffrey Thoorens’ portfolio page, there are a series of concepts that feature Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley returning to fight what appears to be a xenomorph queen, as well as an overview of the movie’s world, character designs, and even a returning face from the classic Alien movies. Take a gander below, and find the rest of the images here.

It goes without saying – this looks beautiful. The Alien franchise may have left the Nostromo long ago, but District 9 director Blomkamp would have seemingly given the series a new, greener, lease of life for the sequel’s artistic direction. There is a luscious ecosystem in a couple of scenes, almost reminiscent of Avatar, with towering alien structures in others.

That best of both worlds approach is also present in some of the other pieces of the Alien 5 concept art. Marrying the action-first mantra of Aliens with the horror-heavy style of the original Alien, there’s a lot to like about the creative direction of a movie that was first announced in 2015 but soon entered development limbo.

It would have brought back Hicks, too, who died (or not, depending on whether you count the video games as canon) in Alien 3. Alien 5 would also have seen a slight redesign for the androids, with their bald heads and sterile look curiously drawing parallels to Alien: Isolation’s Working Joes.

Unfortunately, Alien 5 will never see the light of day. Following Alien 5's cancellation, Ridley Scott instead took the series forward with prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Meanwhile, Blomkamp has moved on to pastures new and has a new horror movie, Demonic, in the works. An Alien TV show is also on the way, as announced during December’s Disney Investor’s Day. The series is coming to FX with Fargo’s Noah Hawley acting as showrunner. Alien director Ridley Scott will also be involved.

If you’re desperate for some scares, check out our hair-raising curated lists that are sure to send shivers down your spine: these are the best horror movies and best movies on Shudder.