For Resurrection fans

We are sort of left to assume that Earth was destroyed by ourselves or perhaps by the Earth Hive story arc. 

But, perhaps it should be revealed post-AR that the Engineers had returned to rain on parade and destroy Earth, and there was a war on the planet.

The Engineer vs Auton War that ultimately saved Earth by trashed the joint in the process (Sorry BigDave borrowed from your idea)

Autons fighting for earth and headed by

***

Walter.

the return

Ripley and Call assemble a team of daredevils and go to the Xeno-Prime.

Ha ha ;)

Indeed i have touched upon this before...

I would have it reveal that Ripley 8 Clone is starting to go through stages of CHANGE as her Xenomorph DNA, begins to Re-Write her Human DNA.  So she begins to go through some Changes, this allows for Miss Weaver to be Cast, where she would only need a CGI Touch up for a few scenes before the Transformation starts, when she can be touched up with Make-Up Instead.

Stages where her Skin Becomes Grey, her Eyes Turn Black, then latter her Head becomes Elongated, other minor changes to Body Proportions before she becomes more of a Hybrid, maybe closer to the  3rd Image Below, maybe even incorporating some Bio-Mechanical Features from the 4th Image.   Or even Turn out like some of the Dr Shaw Concepts from Alien Covenant.

Then reveal that Call takes her to somewhere Safe in a Attempt (while partially transforming) to Save her Humanity... But reveal the Curve-ball that Call has taken her to some Auton Science Division where they capture and hold Ripley 8 in Quarantine and reveal that Call's True Agenda in Alien Resurrection was to obtain a Sample of the Xenomorph Bio-Weapon or a Hybrid.   And reveal that these Cult of Auton's wish to use the Xenomorph as a Weapon so it can gain Dominance over the Humans remaining, and other Synthetics.

Then reveal a place of Worship at the Cult Hideaway with a Mural that Depicts DAVID 8 in Cruciform Pose.

The Ripley 8 Hybrid would have her Egg Cells taken away and from them we get a Hybrid NEW Xenomorph that stands between a cross of the Neomorphs and AR Clone Xenomorphs.

In the End, we could have Ripley 8 escape, and infect Humans (Company who rescue her but want to also use her) and these Hybrid Xenomorphs that are created via a Fully Hybrid Ripley 8 impregnating a Human Host...  are used in a War with the Xenomorphs created from her Egg Cells.

After Ripley 8 Prevails.  She Sacrifices Herself to DEATH knowing that she can not allow for her to be exploited for more Xenomorphs and knowing that as time goes by she is becoming more Xenomorph and it would be a matter of time before there would be NO Humanity left within her....

I will add that Winona Ryder does not look to old compared to her age, and little make up could make her appear younger, the Plot could also have her suffer some kind of damage to allow for some make-up to hide her Age too.

Alternatively...

Natalie Portman, Charlotte Le Bonn or Keira Knightley could also stand in as a Call Maybe Daisy Ridley also?

If FOX/Disney were to Run with this kind of Plot, were we reveal the aftermath of a War on Earth, where Synthetics are revealed to have taken control and seen a downfall of Synthetics at the hands of their own Creations the Autons... we have Ridley Scotts kind of WAR OF THE WORLDS at play.

Where Humanity is on the verge of extinction but part of Humanity has escaped, and used a kind of EMP device as well as Nuclear in a attempt to take Earth back to the Dark Ages...  so that Technology can be eradicated on Earth....  But show that it did not take out all Technology and that a War on Earth is now Fought between Synthetics and Autons, with Mankind stuck in the Middle.

We could even INTRODUCE the Engineers at the End...

I feel this would be a fitting END to Ripleys Saga, that can connect to the Company and its pursuit of the Xenomorph, what becomes of David and also open the Door for Sequels.

I want to add the according to Alien: Sea of Sorrows...

France was attacked by terrorists who drove a massive research space ship into France.  Sea of Sorrows takes place after A:R.  They don't give a date of the terrorist attack, but I think it's safe to assume it happened before Ripley and Call arrive on Earth in A:R. 

In A:R, Ripley and Call are obviously in France in the last scene because we see the Eiffel Tower.  So, I don't know of any proof that Earth is destroyed.  We get a lot of info on the conditions of Earth in the Alien: Covenant ORIGINS novel.  To sum it up, human pollution is decaying the Earth.  There really is no hope to save it either, so they formed the Covenant colony mission.  Earth wont die in a matter of years though.  We really don't get a time frame when Earth will become inhabitable.

In A:R, apparently Earth is habitable since Call and Ripley can easily breath the air without suits.  They're just in Paris, France, so Earth looks like a wasteland.  Still, it looks like that because of a terrorist attack.

Of course, that's if you believe the "Out of the Shadows" series is canon.  I am not just jumping on that mind-set just yet, but I am pulling info from those books to understand little things in the franchise.  They're not bad books.  The first one, "Out of the Shadows" does seem to really drag out the character Ripley, but it works.  I haven't read "River of Pain" yet, but I'm buying it very soon.

To answer the thread...

I would say we get to follow Ripley actually LIVING on Earth.  We can get some real great info on the conditions of Earth after the ORIGINS novel too.  Then, maybe, somehow, the Xeno actually GETS ON EARTH and it is obviously the clone Ripley (who is part Xeno herself now) who takes on the call for leadership to destroy the Xeno's once again.  She then confronts Call and gets her in on the action of killing the Xeno's.  Ripley would look much older, so the age thing with Weaver wouldn't be a problem.  The same could go for Call.  Basically, the movie starts with Ripley's everyday life on Earth that she has apparently been living for, maybe, 15 or 20 years?

Totally makes sense I MOON GIRL i am not sure if the Books (apart from the AC Origins one) can be considered 100% Canon.  But AR does paint us a picture.

EARTH: is in some really bad way, it looks like some kind of Post War Apocalypse (could be multiple Terror Attacks) and from AR it would appear the only Xenomorph Remnants  are what was happening on the USM Auriga and so any sequel would have to Re-Introduce the Xenomorph, which could mean this happens via some Surviving Xenomorph Remnants  from the USM Auriga

What AR has also shown us is that its likely Synthetics Started to take over and dominate the World, it certainly shows us that Synthetics Sub-Create their own Synthetics the Autons... and  indeed conflict between Synthetics and Autons had occurred... 

Call is shown to belong to a Cult, and a Cult of Synthetic Autons with some Religious Beliefs.  And so this kind of does TIE in with the Philosophical and Creation Themes of Prometheus. 

So its likely the Earth has had some inner conflicts/wars between Humans and Synthetics and Autons.....  we could then ASSUME a reason for the USM Company to wish to acquire the Xenomorph or even Hybrids like Ripley 8... because they maybe could use these as Bio-Weapons to allow the Company/Mankind to Reclaim the Earth.

OF-COURSE A BIG PROBLEM...

With any Sequel would now be the Age of Miss Weaver... do we ASSUME Ripley 8 can Regenerate indefinitely?  And so would a Ripley 8 Clone with the Regenerative Ability actually AGE? Also Call as a Synthetic being would she AGE too?

Which is why i had the idea of a way around the Age, via having Ripley 8 start to Evolve and take on more Xenomorph DNA.

The other SCENARIO i would explore would be that Call takes Ripley 8 to a place where they can try and MAKE HER Human Again (The Problem here is would Ripley 8 want to be Human and loose those Abilities the Xenomorph DNA has given her?)  So they experiment with her and conduct a procedure to remove Xenomorph DNA so that Ripley 8 becomes nearly 100% Human.

But after this Procedure Ripley 8 instead begins to AGE Rabidly and SHE finds out the AUTON Cult has not eradicated the Xenomorph DNA, not as far as to be RID of it... but they have removed the Xenomorph DNA and attempt to use it to Create Bio-Weapons to allow the Autons to Rule Earth and then the Cosmos.

Ripley 8 now aging fast knows she has days to live or weeks and she decides its her Dying Duty to Prevent the Autons from Unleashing the Xenomorph/DNA upon the Earth.

I feel this Plot.... or the Ripley 8 turning into a more Xenomorph Hybrid would be the ideal solution to a TRUE Alien 5 movie if they wish to still involved RIPLEY in the Story.

@BigDave

The "Sea of Sorrows" takes place after A:R.  

SPOILER ALERT!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! FOR "SEA OF SORROWS" NOVEL!!!!!!  DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU INTEND ON READING "SEA SORROWS"!!!!!!!!

Apparently Weyland-Yutani is still around after A:R.  In A:R, we're told and left to assume that Weyland-Yutani was "bought out by Wal-Mart", to quite the scientist Dr. Wren. In "Sea of Sorrows", W-Y is apparently still around and still looking for that Xeno.  Apparently W-Y is still very powerful.  Well, at the end of "Sea of Sorrows", Weyland-Yutani has a live, fully grown alien in there possession and has two people in cryosleep who have facehuggers on their face.  And guess what... One of them is implied to be a queen because the facehugger is more elaborate and looks much different than the other facehugger.

SORRY FOR THE SPOILERS ABOVE TO ANYONE THAT IS UPSET... 

BigDave said, "...i am not sure if the Books (apart from the AC Origins one) can be considered 100% Canon."

I agree with that statement, yet the stories apparently work with the movies.  So, it may be put upon the reader to decide.  

Still, FOX did help make these books.

My decision is to take ideas from the books to help explain things in the movies.  A part from explaining things, the books are just there for fun and are not canon.

I did just watch A:R last night and I was left wondering where the Auriga crashed into.  It was a brief scene, but it appears to crash into a Earth landmass.  Still, it was close to the ocean.  It wasn't right on the beach, but it was close to the ocean.  I didn't recognize the landmass either.  I don't think it crashed near Paris, unless the image we got in A:R of the ship crashing was actually the ship flying upside down so the globe would be upside down which then could mean that maybe the ship crashed near enough to Paris to annihilate it as we see in A:R at the end.  Still, the land mass didn't look like France to me either.  Still, I doubt the Betty would land in the place where the Auriga crashed into.  It wouldn't be a very safe place and wouldn't have been anywhere near a good decision.  Plus, Ripley and Call are both saying "Well, this is Earth."  So, I would think that they wouldn't call destroyed Paris as the typical place on Earth like they were acting.  Still, both of them said that they have never been to Earth.

I like the idea of a terrorist attack.  I guess that could be why the scientist, Dr. Wren, was so upset with catching Call accessing a restricting area.  He called Call a terrorist and treated the matter very seriously.  

The terrorist attack in "Sea of Sorrows" was a research spaceship kind of like the Auriga.  I'm just left a little uncertain to whether Paris's terrorist attack was actually the research ship Auriga or if it was another ship like the Auriga which would be why Dr. Wren was so hard on the Betty crew because he thought Call was a terrorist.  Still, I don't know why the Betty would land in Paris right after their ship crashed there?  It wouldn't be a very safe landing spot to get out and enjoy the everydayness of Earth.

According to http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/USM_Auriga 

"The Auriga ultimately ploughed into an uninhabited region of Africa, completely destroying the ship and everything on board and causing an estimated $300 trillion worth of damage."

I am always skeptical of Novels as Canon and i admit i have only read part of ONE Expanded Universe Novel.

It does appear the Auriga was heading towards Africa.... i will have to watch AR again but it does not hold the replay value of the other movies...  Prometheus, Alien, Alien 3, Aliens seem to be what i watch over and over more... Alien Covenant, AVP and Alien Resurrection not so much but i think i will watch Alien Covenant a 5th time latter. As for AVPR i watched it twice.... once fully the first time i could not get into it and i cant see it worth a 3rd viewing lol

But back the point about Call being a Terrorist i think it fits well, because if we look at AI Evolving to be so advanced like Ash/David or a Call or the Replicants.... where they see themselves as more than a Machine , surely we can see a uprising by these Synthetics/AI just as we have seen in some Countries where Ethic Minorities have had uprisings and riots for Equal Rights.

With AI/Robots it would be more harsh as they are NOT Human, and so Humanity would see any AI/Robots that up-rise as Terrorists

I think what i am saying is if we look at the themes behind Apartheid  i think the Prequels have shown this kind of thing between Humans and Synthetics and you can bet similar would happen more so in the Franchise as a whole... in FACT once AI really evolves in Real Life like we see in the movies there is the great potential for such a Apartheid  between Humans and Artificial intelligence/Life that has Evolved to have Feelings and Emotions...

Blade Runner was a real Apartheid kind of movie as far as Humans vs Non-Human Replicants... and i think RS has tried to highlight this with the Alien Franchise and so YES i think a Apartheid theme really would have played out in the Future of Earth within the Alien Franchise on more than ONE Level.. (Humans, Synthetics and Autons)

BigDave said, "But back the point about Call being a Terrorist i think it fits well, because if we look at AI Evolving to be so advanced like Ash/David or a Call or the Replicants...."

Still, when Dr. Wren called Call a terrorist, he had no idea that she is an android.  He had no evidence that Call was even a terrorist except the fact that she was messing with Ripley's cell.  I think Dr. Wren called Call a terrorist maybe because it was the first thing that made logical sense to him on the spur of the moment.  Plus, if AI is acting like you think it is in the Alien franchise around A:R times, then I'm sure that Dr. Wren would logically think to call Call a terrorist during the spur of the moment since then the word 'terrorist' would be a buzz word during those times.  Still, I don't think Dr. Wren had any idea that Call was a robot.  Maybe the crashing of a similar research vessel as described in "Sea of Sorrows" just is making any research vessel a little paranoid.  I'm sure the Auriga is extra paranoid because of what they're researching too.  I'm sure security is typically fairly low on those since it's just research.  Plus, I'm sure most of those vessels are in controlled space, unlike the Auriga.  I would assume they would have extra security to protect themselves from terrorists or pirates, like the Betty. 

Instead, why not hire the Betty to do your dirty work and pay them for it so they have no reason to attack the ship.  I'm a little out there on that idea, but hey, I just thought I'd mention it.  I wonder why they didn't use monkeys instead of humans in A:R?  I'm sure those Xeno's would be smaller and easier to control.  Or maybe use an animal with less intelligence, unlike humans, to make them easier to control.

Terrorist or hero- seems to depend on which side one is on.

"I wonder why they didn't use monkeys instead of humans in A:R?"

I think in part for the Purpose of the Movie, there is more Horror in Humans being Chest Busted....  

As far as the Plot and Purpose of the Xenomorph, maybe the desired outcome is with Human Hosts rather than Primates, so there is something with the Human Brain and Evolution that is of more Benefit for the Organism....  The Prequels are hinting the Xenomorph is Engineered more to so infect Humans... and also its hinted that David found more success with the Human Genetics than the Engineers in the pursuit of his Perfect Creation.

But Certainly as far as Dr Wren is concerned he saw more applications of the Xenomorph than just to use as a Weapon Weapon/Killing Machine, he was looking at the potential Medical and Construction uses for the Xenomorphs unique Genetic/Bio-Mechanical Traits.

Which would mean that WHY use Humans and NOT Primates is a very good Question...

"To answer the thread...

I would say we get to follow Ripley actually LIVING on Earth.  We can get some real great info on the conditions of Earth after the ORIGINS novel too."

Excellent I Moon Girl. I was going to bring up the same points you made regarding Sea of Sorrows. This novel was a great continuation from the Alien Resurrection film and could certainly tie together concepts seen in the films and what is read about in previous novels.

I highly recommend Alien: The Cold Forge. I might choose this novel, with Alien: Sea of Sorrows behind it, to be made into the next film if it were up to me. What I read, in my opinion, in The Cold Forge brought together the best we have seen in films with suspense, violence, exotic technology, treachery, and two parts that could be made into the best imagery seen yet in film. Think of the movie Sunshine combined with Ex Machina combined with the last 45 minutes of Aliens.

Yes, both involve a xenomorph(s) and both parts are without a synthetic. Cue up the smiles from the AI-angle haters here. And there are more examples of AI I Moon Girl in The Cold Forge than any other novel or film.

What I liked about the Sea of Sorrows novel was that Weyland-Yutani was resurrected after being broke up and the Company saved Earth by cleaning the atmosphere for a 2nd time with their processors.

This tied into the old Weyland Industries timeline, below.