What Are These Cryptic 'Alien' Instagram Posts All About?

The official Alien Instagram account posted a few mysterious pieces of artwork in the last few days, hinting at something new for the Alien franchise. While one might assume the art is hinting at a new Alien movie, it's more than likely than a new video game is on the way – possibly a follow-up to Alien: Isolation. For now, though, it's all very mysterious.

Ready for a story? It's a fun tale with a happy ending. Just kidding – it's full of death and horror. The story unfolded across the Alien Instagram account, and you can see it in full below.

The six-part story follows an unnamed protagonist investigating some accidents at a Weyland-Yutani facility. It's immediately revealed the facility is hiding a terrible secret: a captive Xenomorph queen, along with a breeding program. Needless to say, things don't go well. Facehuggers are soon hatched, and dropped down to a planet where they kill everyone, leading to the planet being overrun with Xenomorphs. Fun!

So what's going on here? The stories come with the title "Exposing the Secret History of Weyland-Yutani", described as a 6-part dossier that "expands" in 2019. I'm sure fans hungry for a new Alien movie are crossing their fingers that that's what this is teasing, but I doubt it. There are some clues about what this might be. Most of the posts come with the hashtag #AmandaRipley, a name that will be familiar to fans. Amanda is the daughter of Ripley, the original Alien protagonist played by Sigourney Weaver. Amanda is also the main character of the video game Alien: Isolation. With that in mind, I'd guess that this is teasing either a new video game, or perhaps some sort of comic/graphic novel that continues the story of Alien: Isolation.

Or I'm wrong! One thing is for sure: there's definitely no new Alien movie hitting theaters in 2019. That's not to say we won't get a new film eventually, but for now, the franchise is in a weird place. Ridley Scott has released his two prequel films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, which have received mixed reactions. Some (like me!) enjoy the new direction these prequels are taking the series, while others would prefer a more old-school Alien film, similar to the original and James Cameron's Aliens.

We might see that some day, but for now, we'll have to wait and see what these cryptic Instagram posts are teasing for the upcoming year.