I’ve been getting increasingly excited about an idea called UNMADE SEQUELS. I can see how it could work, and I’ve been watching documentaries that are helping me picture it more clearly. Whether enough people would actually want to watch it is something I still need to find out.
It started with the conversations around The Thing while working on The Thing Expanded. Fans can spend years discussing that ending. Who’s human? Who isn’t? And what happens after we leave MacReady and Childs sitting there?
Working so closely with fan communities at CREATORVC, I get to hear a lot of these conversations. People love imagining where their favourite characters could go next. I started wondering whether that process could become a documentary, with the payoff being that you’d actually get to see some of those possibilities play out.
You’d get to spend a little more time with characters you love. That really speaks to me.
What happens after Aliens?
James Cameron’s Aliens. The starting point for the first UNMADE SEQUELS experiment.
Aliens feels like a great place to start. We heard plenty of discussion about this while putting Aliens Expanded together: what other adventures could Ripley, Hicks and Newt have had?
Alien 3 has its fans, but killing Hicks and Newt in the opening minutes took away the future a lot of people had imagined for them. After everything they’d survived, Cameron had given us a hopeful ending.
Look at Ripley and Newt going into hypersleep. They’ve been through hell, but they’ve made it. Hicks and Bishop are aboard too. You care about these people, and there’s a whole future you can imagine beyond that moment.
Ripley and Newt at the end of Aliens. This is the moment I’d like to start imagining from.
So, suppose Alien 3 and the sequels that followed never happened. Where could we go from here?
I can picture a documentary exploring three or four different story arcs. Writers talking through story beats, filmmakers and film fans pulling them apart, and perhaps actors from Aliens giving their take.
With Michael Biehn a couple of months ago, filming Terminator Expanded.
I’d love to talk to Michael about where he wished Hicks could have gone after Aliens. That’s a conversation I’d really enjoy. Nothing is arranged at this stage.
How far could we take it? How strange could some of those possibilities get? We wouldn’t be tied to a story that had already been developed. We’d have room to explore.
The films helping me see it
I’ve been going down a bit of a documentary rabbit hole, and three films have really helped clarify what excites me about this.
The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?
I loved The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? because it felt like an extension of fandom. Hardcore fans trying to understand what happened to this extraordinary project, with some fantastic contributors helping them get there. You could feel the curiosity behind it.
Boorman and the Devil.
Boorman and the Devil got me thinking about how razor-thin the difference between artistic success and failure can be. Even someone as talented as John Boorman can make a film that doesn’t connect. I also loved the illustrations and animation used to bring scenes and experiences from the production to life. They were clever, effective and beautifully done.
Jodorowsky’s Dune.
Then there’s Jodorowsky’s Dune, which absolutely blew me away. So much of that is Jodorowsky himself. He’s such an expressive contributor, and the scale of his imagination is extraordinary. Seeing the artwork and all that development work, then watching the documentary bring parts of it to life, helped me understand what his film could have been.
It felt like the closest I’d ever get to watching it.
That’s the feeling I’d love to explore with UNMADE SEQUELS. Those documentaries gave me a way into someone else’s vision. Here, we’d be imagining entirely new continuations of stories we already love, rather than reconstructing a sequel that went into development and was abandoned.
Made by people, with the fans involved
The visual side is a big part of the appeal. I’d love to work with artists and animators on human-drawn illustrations, storyboards and handmade animated sequences that let us experience these possible adventures.
I don’t need photorealistic versions of the characters. I want to see an artist’s interpretation, with their own imagination coming through. We don’t use generative AI in our documentaries, and I wouldn’t want to use it here. The connection we have with these characters is deeply human. I’d want that to carry right through to how we bring the imagined scenes to life.
The other part is involving our backers in developing it. One possibility would be for fans to review a shortlist of story arcs and vote for one they’d like us to explore. They’d have a meaningful steer, with the filmmakers retaining creative control over the documentary.
I’ve also thought about a possible cash prize for a selected story arc and its key beats. That’s only a tentative idea. We haven’t worked out a process or committed to running anything.
We’re not asking for scripts, story concepts or submissions now. At this stage, I’d just like feedback on the documentary idea itself. If you’d be interested in contributing at some future point, you’re welcome to say so in the comments, without sending a pitch.
I know this would be quite a focused film. It would probably appeal most to the Aliens fan who’s already had these conversations and would love to indulge that interest a bit further. I can picture myself really enjoying it. The question is how many other people feel the same way.
First, I need to listen
The response to my Instagram posts encouraged me to look at this more closely. One got over 600 likes and a lot of comments. I see that as a signal worth investigating. Making a good documentary takes a significant investment, and we need enough people who want to help make it happen.
After eight and a half years at CREATORVC, with our twelfth project approaching delivery, I take that seriously. We test ideas early because I don’t want a lack of funds to compromise the quality of a film or put a project at risk. I’m happy for an idea to fail at this stage. That’s a useful thing to find out before committing to it.
On Wednesday, 21 October 2026, I’ll be emailing our Aliens Expanded Collector’s Edition backers to ask what they think. We’re busy with other projects over the next few weeks, so I’ll take it from there and keep sharing my thinking as it develops.
There’s no production commitment here, and I don’t expect any major development this year. If there’s sufficient demand, it could be something we explore further in 2027. Until we’ve heard from people, I can’t really see beyond that next conversation.
And honestly, that conversation is a big reason I’m doing this. I love chewing the fat with our backers, shooting ideas around and imagining what could be great. I live for that bit. Human connection, crowdfunding and community are central to what I enjoy about this work, and I want to lean into it more.
Writing this is helping me work out what I think, too.
Would you want to watch a documentary like this? Which Aliens characters would you most want to spend more time with? And what would make the experience worth watching for you?
I’d also like to hear if it doesn’t appeal. That’s useful feedback. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.
Great idea. Would certainly be of interest. The graphic novels, thinking here of Carpenter's Plisskin character, have run with the what-comes-after theme. Flipping it over. Would also work with prequels. I know you are familiar with Ryan's 'Book of Quint' and collaborate with Ryan. "The ever-expanding universe" applies here, to quote Mr Dacko.
I'd certainly be interested in this subject for a documentary. Between the sequels which could & should have been made and those which were (but maybe shouldn't), there's near limitless source material.