Alien Nation‘ is a late 80s science fiction thriller that had an interesting enough premise even today so that a reboot is in the works and may have snagged Jeff Nichols (‘Mud’,’Midnight Special‘) to direct it. Nichols is currently in Toronto to promote his civil-rights drama ‘Loving’ which is due for a theatrical release next year but it looks as if he is speaking with 20th Century Fox to handle a new adaption of their science fiction buddy cop film.

That description might be a bit of a stretch as originally the lead was a racist cop who was formed to partner with an alien. The movie itself did well enough as a film to spawn a single season series in an era where that was unheard of prior to the cinematic universes currently being created.

The story took place in a world where 300,000 enslaved aliens crashed onto Earth and were allowed to integrate into our society and mainly stayed in Los Angeles, California. We were given multiple human and alien cases in a world much like our own that addressed political and social issues. With how the current election is going in the United States this seems as if it could be an easy segway into commenting on our society.

Nichols has previously done science fiction with the critically acclaimed ‘Midnight Special’ and while I wish it wasn’t a reboot that was bringing him back to genre work, this is one that might be right up his alley. On top of that it sounds as if Michael Shannon (‘Man of Steel’,’Boardwalk Empire’) is in talks to tackle one of the starring roles and it sounds as if it could be the alien one at that.

He hasn’t signed on the dotted line as of yet and this isn’t a done deal but as the film is clearly going to happen this could be a director that would bring a unique spin to it.

Would you be excited about an ‘Alien Nation’ reboot or should the studios just give us something new already? Do you feel that Jeff Nichols could do it justice? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Collider

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Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!