Jeff Nichols Wants ‘Alien Nation' Remake To Be His Next Film

This Friday, Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” arrives in theaters, almost 10 months after it premiered at last year’s Telluride Film Festival.

What’s next for Nichols? A few months back, I reported about his attempt to turn Cormac McCarthy’s last two novels into films, with Regency producing. Michael Shannon is said to have a key role in that project. However, the McCarthy adaptations might not be Nichols’ next film.

In an interview with ComingSoon, Nichols is hinting at this “mysterious” sci-fi movie being up next for him. The film had been originally announced in 2021, with Paramount backing it up. And yet, there’s nothing mysterious about what it is. I have the full details below. Firstly, here is Nichols describing the project:

I’d love for it [the sci-fi film] to be my next film. It says everything I want to say about humanity and the universe. It’s a big film. It’s got a big scope to it and a big heart to it. Believe it or not, it’s a film with aliens in it. But it takes place in Arkansas, and it feels like a movie made by the guy who made Mud, and it just happens to have aliens in it.

So, the film he’s talking about is a very loose remake of the 1988 film “Alien Nation.” Nichols is so adamant in getting this one made that he’s telling The Irish Times it “will either happen or I’ll be on my deathbed thinking about how I can make it happen.”

In 2018, Nichols was supposed to direct “Alien Nation” in what was then described as “a big, $100 million studio film, set in Arkansas.” Problem is that Disney bought Fox and killed the project, which Nichols called a “soul-crushing” experience.

“Alien Nation” was then pitched as a 10-episode Disney+ series, but that idea was eventually scrapped. Nichols now, again, wants to turn it into a film. Technically speaking, there will be no rights issues here, Nichols can make the film at Paramount, which is the plan, because his script is actually an original and only “inspired” by Alien Nation. The characters’ names are different and so is the plot.

Last year, I reported that Nichols’ long-gestating remake of the sci-fi buddy-cop caper was further along in development than originally thought. So much so that an Arkansas-set shoot was planned for the fall. Sadly, the strikes happened.

Nichols is the director of “Shotgun Stories,” “Take Shelter,” “Mud,” and “Loving,” and he surely deserves the opportunity to make or direct anything he pleases. It’s not like he hasn’t delved in the sci-fi genre either — 2017’s “Midnight Special” was a pure and total Spielberg-inspired exercise.