Alien Legacies: The Evolution of the Franchise

As a media franchise, the film Alien has enjoyed a large and devoted fanbase for over four decades. This new book engages with the franchise in all its forms: not just the original film, but its sequels, prequels, and multimedia offshoots like comic books, audiobooks, action figures and videogames, to offer fresh perspectives on the Alien universe. What is it about Alien that still fascinates audiences, and why does it still matter so many years after its birth?

Nathan Abrams is Professor in Film and Lead Director for the Centre for Film, Television and Screen Studies at Bangor University. He lectures on British and American popular culture, history film and intellectual culture. He is co-founder of Jewish Film and New Media: An International Journal. He is the co-author of Eyes Wide Shut: Stanley Kubrick and the Making of His Final Film, and the author of Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual and The New Jew in Film: Exploring Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Cinema, among others.

Gregory Frame is Research Associate in Film Studies at Bangor University. His main area of interest is the politics of popular film and television, and he has published widely in these areas in peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. He is the author of The American President in Film and Television: Myth, Politics and Representation.