Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Movies | Tagged: 20th century studios, alien, Alien: Romulus, fede alvarez, film

Fede Álvarez on the Status of the Alien: Romulus Sequel

Fede Álvarez offers an update on the Alien: Romulus sequel script, producing with Ridley Scott, and searching for a new director.

The Alien franchise is in pretty solid health and still multiplying. After last year's box-office resurgence with Alien: Romulus, director Fede Álvarez says a follow-up script is finished, but he won't be back behind the camera. Instead, he and Ridley Scott will produce while they search for a new filmmaker. Álvarez confirmed the plan himself during a recent interview with TooFab about the next chapter of the epic sci-fi saga.

Alvarez tells the outlet, "We just finished the script, actually, for a sequel for [Alien: Romulus]. But I'm gonna pass the torch on this one as director. I'm going to produce it, with Ridley Scott, we're gonna produce it together, and we're right now trying to find a new filmmaker to come in. I think that's usually what has happened, except for Ridley, filmmakers come, you make one, and you pass the baton to the next one. But we wrote the story because we really love what we started with [Alien: Romulus] and we want to continue the story. We love the story, and now we just want to find a director that really wants to go for the jugular."

Alien Franchise Directors (So Far)

The baton-pass approach has precedent in a series that's invited distinct visions—from Scott's haunted-house-in-space classic to James Cameron's war movie, David Fincher's prison nightmare, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's bio-horror. Álvarez's Alien: Romulus slotted neatly into canon between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), a mid-timeline setting that let the film lean back into stripped-down terror while threading franchise lore.

And audiences definitely showed up. Alien: Romulus finished with $350.9 million worldwide ($105 million domestic and $245 million international), the strongest Alien outing in years and a clear signal to 20th Century Studios that the appetite for xenomorph carnage remains high. On the small screen, the universe is expanding, too. FX's first Alien series, Alien: Earth, launched this summer and has drawn strong critical notices while exploring corporate hubris, synthetic bodies, and new permutations of the creature—another proof point that the brand can sustain parallel storytelling tracks. So, in essence, the franchise is clearly here to stay.

All things considered, which filmmaker would you choose to helm the Alien: Romulus sequel? Drop your suggestions in the comments below.

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