This article contains spoilers for Alien #1
While the Alien universe may seem like a far bleaker world than that of Blade Runner–mostly due to the fact that there is always some percentage of a chance that an alien creature will gestate inside of one’s body and then gruesomely and painfully kill them upon its birth–Alien actually seems like a much brighter world, at least for androids, as this latest Alien storyline is the unofficial Blade Runner crossover fans have been waiting decades to see.
The world of Blade Runner was first introduced in the 1982 film Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott. The movie follows a man named Rick Deckard who is a Blade Runner, which is someone who gets paid to hunt down and ‘retire’–ie murder–Replicants, or androids. As the film progresses, Deckard is successful in killing nearly every single Replicant he’s been hired to go after, with the last one dying of ‘natural’ causes–meaning his three years of artificial life were up. In fact, that three year life span is the whole reason this movie has a plot in the first place. The Replicants the Blade Runner is hired to kill just want to have their lives extended, giving them the option to live their lives to the fullest with enough time to actually live fulfilling lives. Sadly, they don’t get what they were so desperate for and Deckard ensures that most of them don’t even make it to their three-year milestone.
In Alien #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Julius Ohta, readers are introduced to a group of Synthetics–collectively known as Steel Team–who are living on a planet uninhabitable for humans, meaning that they are no longer slaves to humanity as they once were. This planet the Steel Team have made their new home is an absolute paradise. The only reason humans can’t live there is that the air is toxic, but Synthetics don’t have that particular problem. Basically, these Synthetics–who don’t have a limit on their life span and are essentially immortal so long as their main processors are intact–are basically living the lives Blade Runner’s Replicants wanted for themselves.
While fans were robbed of seeing the happy ending the Replicants deserved in Blade Runner, they are able to see it here with Alien’s Synthetics. However, this issue of Alien may just be the beginning of an android sanctuary, one that even Blade Runner's Replicants can take advantage of. As fans of both franchises know, Ridley Scott is the filmmaker behind both Alien and Blade Runner, and because of that and the similar futuristic settings of both worlds, many fans have speculated that Alien and Blade Runner actually exist in the same universe. In fact, this has gone beyond mere speculation as there have been definitive connections made between the two franchises. For instance, the captain of the Nostromo worked for Tyrell Corporation before being hired by Weyland-Yutani, and Tyrell is responsible for creating Replicants in the Blade Runner universe. This means that Replicants may exist in the current continuity of Alien, and based on the most recent Blade Runner film, they no longer have to worry about that three year lifespan.
In Blade Runner 2049, the Tyrell Corporation is no more and the Wallace Corporation has taken over as the one and only manufacturer of Replicants. With that change also came some significant upgrades to the androids, including longer lifespans (the extent of which is unclear) and artificial reproductive systems. So, if Replicants do exist in Alien and discover this world that is totally run by Synthetics, then not only could they move there and free themselves from the shackles of humanity, but they could also form a colony of Replicants due to their upgraded reproductive systems. This would open up a whole new realm within both established universes and would effectively turn Alien’s new era into the Blade Runner crossover fans deserve.