It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’sAlienfirst terrified cinemagoers. While the 1979 classic has become immortalized by its tagline of, “In space, no one can hear you scream,” theAlienfranchise has been making a lot of noise ever since. A slew of sequels, prequels, and crossovers have diluted the once-lauded horror icon thanks to their varying quality. ButAlienname came back with a bang in 2024 thanks toAlien: Romulus.
Following the disappointment ofAlien: Covenantin 2017,Evil Dead(2013) director Fede Álvarez took the reins forAlien: Romulusas another prequelto the originalAlien. While Scott supervised the project as a producer, it was the first time he hadn’t directed sincePrometheusattempted to breathe new life into the IP in 2012. There’s already talk about where theAlienname goes next. Although Scott himself seems keen to return, should the original director keep taking a backseat?
Fox’s Alien Universe is Expanding
Alien: Romulusboasts box office success of $350.8 million off a budget of $80 million. Although it’s still shy ofPrometheus’ franchise-topping $402 million, many have called it the bestAlienmovie since 1986’sAliens.Considering that, it’s no surprise that talks of a sequel began soon after. 20th Century Studios President Steve Asbell hasconfirmed that aRomulussequelwith ‘great horror set pieces’ is on the way, although the studio is yet to lock down Álvarez as the director.
Álvarez had already discussed plans for where he would take a sequel withThe Hollywood Reporter, but cited the lengthy gap betweenAlienandAliensas a potential window for when fans could expect the next entry:
If you think about Alien and Aliens, there’s seven years between them. But we definitely have ideas about where it should go.
He also mulled over the idea of athirdAlien Vs. Predatormovie, in which he could potentially bring things together withPrey’s Dan Trachtenberg. Assuming the studio wants to fast-track something to keepAlienat the top of the charts, there could be an unlikely return for Scott. In an October 2024 editorial inThe Hollywood Reporter, Scott confirmed he’s working on a newAlienproject, with a throwaway mention from the outlet that reads:
Scott also revealed he’s developing a new Alien movie for 20th in the wake of Romulus’ success.
There’s no clarification on whether this is the promisedRomulussequel, something brand-new, or a continuation of theplot threads fromAlien: Covenant. Back when Scott returned to this world forPrometheus, he was open about the fact he wanted to create a franchise of four prequels that would eventually lead to the events of the originalAlien.
The idea of waiting another seven years for anAlienmovie is likely one the studio won’t be too happy about, especially as there are twoPredatormovies coming in 2025. As well as Trachtenberg’sPredator: Badlandsstarring Elle Fanning, Asbell promised that a ‘secret’Predatormovie is also on the way next year. There isNoah Hawley’s long-awaitedAlien: Earth, but even if Fox holds out for Álvarez’s full-blownRomulussequel, it’s possible for Scott to sneak in with something else. It’s not like he hasn’t mapped out a story.
Ridley Scott Needs to Learn From Alien: Covenant
Scott has always had grand plans forAlienin a post-Prometheusboom, and while that could simply involve him watching from the shadows as a producer, there’s a sense that he wants to return to the director’s chair. Back when filmingCovenant, Scott toldThe Sydney Morning Herald:
If you really want a franchise, I can keep cranking it for another six. I’m not going to close it down again. No way.
This could be why he’s repeatedly expressed an interest in completing his prequel plans and potentially finishing his ‘David’ trilogy of Michael Fassbender’s unhinged android. TheCovenantsequel was tentatively titledAlien: Awakening, and was due to move away from the Xenomorphs by having the surviving Engineers try to enact revenge on David. There was talk of this battle taking place on LV-426, suggesting there would finally be a payoff for the Space Jockey Ripley found in the OGAlien.
Scott admitted he’d made amistake with the original run ofAlienmoviesthat ended with 1997’sAlien: Resurrection, saying he was wrong to think the ‘beast’ had run out. But, just because a story can keep going, doesn’t always mean it should. Critics point toCovenant’s faults and the inevitability that Scott would try to bring some of these themes back into his own project.Covenantlost fans by expanding on the philosophical approach ofPrometheuswhile losing the classic suspense thatAlienis known for. There was also the baffling decision to abandon Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw to focus on Fassbender’s David, giving aBlade Runner-esque warning about artificial intelligence.
Elements of Scott’s vision were already amalgamated intoRomulus, with amention of the ‘Prometheus File’and some David-inspired experiments taking place on the Renaissance space station. It was here that the movie’s harshest critics felt it started to lose its way, with the Offspring leading to an action-packed finale that lost some of the movie’s early tension. While fleshing out the backstory of the Engineers and giving an origin story to the classic Xenomorphs is all well and good,Romulusshowed they can be minor additions to the mythos without requiring whole movies of their own.
With Sigourney Weaver saying she’s done playing Ellen Ripley, and Scott potentially back in the saddle, it’s a shame that Neil Blomkamp’sAlien 5looks like it’ll never happen. Similar to how 2018’sHalloweenpicked up following the original movie and nixed the sequels, Blomkamp was going to continue fromAliensand retcon David Fincher’s divisiveAlien 3. While Scott could takeAlienanywhere and deliver a truly great sequel to thesolid foundation he laid inPrometheus, there are rightful fears that it would be anotherCovenant,
where character development is thrown out of the window in favor of tying together increasingly complicated scraps of lore. The mystery of 1979’s Space Jockey is best left as a mystery.
