What is Going On With the Alien: Romulus Sequel?

Although I had very little prior experience with the franchise at the time, Alien: Romulus ended up finding itself towards the top of my list for 2024 films. I loved the sci-fi angle, the cast was phenomenal, and it felt fresh even while being a very big emulation of the first film. Immediately after, I was one of the people clamoring for a sequel, as it felt there was definitely room to continue within these characters in this world. Now we sit in mid-late 2026 and the sequel has not only not even started filming, but it seems to be in question if it will happen as expected.

Today I want to go into the timeline of events that led to where we are now and also give my thoughts on where the franchise could go from here. This is a LONG and storied production history, with lots of behind the scenes drama, so I'll just try my hardest to condense it. This is also comes with a mix of both unconfirmed reports and official statements from those involved, so I'll make sure to note whatever source each bit of the timeline is coming from.

Credit: Everett Collection

We begin in August of 2024, when Fede Álvarez's Romulus releases in theaters to incredible praise and box office success. The film is the fourth highest ranked Alien project on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed 350 million worldwide, despite not having any super prominent actors or any outstanding connection to anything that had come before. Fans appreciated the callbacks to the original Alien film while also creating new and creative characters. Fast forward a few months after the film leaves theaters, where Álvarez was already discussing that he had ideas for a sequel, but didn't want to rush into production. With that said, almost right after he said that, Disney confirmed that a sequel with Álvarez was in development. By mid 2025, the script was completed and they were gearing to shoot in the fall.

Here's where behind the scenes issues started to arise - fans were shocked when in September 2025, Álvarez announced that he would not be directing the sequel and would move into a producer role. He claimed that he wanted to tackle an original project rather than an IP, a stark turn from how interested he originally seemed about developing the sequel. Shortly after this rumors from insiders suggested that Ridley Scott, director of the original Alien film and subsequent sequels Prometheus/Covenant, was attempting to make another grasp at the franchise. Although Scott had been a producer for Romulus and Alien: Earth Season 1, it was rumored that he wanted to make another project in his Michael Fassbender (the star of both of his films I mentioned earlier) group of films.

Credit: Britannica

This led into a long period of quiet in the Alien franchise, outside of production beginning on Earth Season 2, until very recently when more rumors and drama began to swirl. Just a few months ago, it was rumored that Disney was eyeing Michael Sarnoski (A Quiet Place: Day One) to direct the sequel. At the same time, Brian Duffield (No One WIll Save You) was writing a separate movie in the universe and that Scott was still interested in being involved creatively in some way. Lastly, just this past week, a relatively unreliable source had claimed that the Romulus sequel had been shelved. In response, 20th Century president Steve Asbell denied claims on twitter, simply saying "Nope".

So here's where we are at - a complete state of confusion. As far as we know, the Romulus sequel is still in active development as they are looking at directors. But at the same time, there's a script being written for another Alien film and Ridley Scott wants to also make his own project with more control than producing.

Credit: 20th Century/Disney

So, where do we go from here? First, I think it's important to express what I think the priority should be at this time. Although I think Ridley Scott is an incredibly iconic director and obviously birthed this franchise all the way back in the 20th century, I can't say that I have a ton of interest in seeing him do another Alien film. I can genuinely say that I've eitheir enjoyed or really loved all his projects in this universe, but I'm not really sure I have any huge desire to see more from him anytime soon. Now, there's one caveat to this - if we can do both his project and the Romulus sequel, with both production's being unconnected, then I'm game. I just find it hard to belive they'll not only be developing two movies at the same time, but also this Duffield script and potentially more seasons of Alien: Earth. Not to mention, all of these projects have Scott onboard as producer.

I also think it's worth noting that although we cannot verify the reports that Scott is causing problems behind the scenes, it's something that I think is a serious problem if true. If Scott is not getting along with the people at 20th Century or the directors attached to these other projects, it stands to reason that he could make a power play and put a halt to everything outisde of his project. Although this shouldn't be how it is, due to his involvement in making this franchise what it is, you kind of have to grant him a bit of leeway in his demands. The hope is that this isn't the case, and we can both get something from him in addition to whoever tackles the Romulus sequel.

Credit: Disney/20th Century Fox

For me, I really would put the sequel above all other priorities. The whole project felt so fresh and new for a franchise that has such a storied history, partly because the younger cast, but also the direction that Fede brought. It's obviously a very difficult reality that it doesn't seem like he wants to be very creativley involved in this project anymore, but I'd have to assume that Sarnoski or whoever takes it on next will be mostly adapting his original plan. I'm glad that Asbell dispelled rumors that it had been shelved, because before that it was really just feeling like everyone had moved on. Fede exited, there's no production timeline even after 2 years since Romulus released, and even stars of the film Cailee Spaeny/David Jonsson have just signed multi-picture Marvel deals. Can we trust a studio executive when he claims something like this? Not really, but it's all we have to go off right now. All we can do is hope that cooler heads will prevail and the sequel to the box-office hit will have updates sooner rather than later.