James Cameron gets honest about 'Aliens' films he did not make

James Cameron, best known for directing the Aliens sequel, did not outright but in a measured way praise the other installment in the franchise.

“It’s interesting. The new ‘Alien Earth’ is pretty good. And they’ve got a lot of the DNA from Ridley’s film, from ours, and also from [David] Fincher’s as well. Some of those aggressive POVs," he tells Just Foolin About with Michael Biehn podcast, referring to the 2025 show on FX.

For Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, James says, “Yeah, I’ve seen it. I like parts of it. I think it’s inventive. It’s different. I feel Ridley’s more…”

Though not a sweeping endorsement, the director adds, “Fede did something interesting as well. I particularly like the scene where they’re weightless, floating in between the globs of floating alien acid, you know, which is like pretty nightmarish and well done.”

As far as the Neil Blomkamp Alien 5 film, which was axed, the Avatar director shares, “I don’t know anything about that. I know Neil, at a remove, and I have corresponded a bit, but I don’t know the details of that one. But he’s a very inventive.”

However, James shot down the suggestion of returning to direct Alien. “Yeah, you couldn’t pay me enough money to go back to that franchise there. It’s sort of almost become fan-driven."

It is worth noting that he directed Aliens' sequel to the 1979 film, which received critical acclaim.