Cailee Spaeny had one of the most successful runs in 2024. Coming off of Sofia Copolla’s Priscilla, where she played Priscilla Presley, Spaeny collaborated with the brilliant Alex Garland on the challenging apolitical drama Civil War, then returned to the world of big-budget action sci-fi for the spectacular and unnerving Alien: Romulus. Both of those films – different as they are on the surface – ended up on my personal Top 10 list for 2024 because of what they attempted, and what they accomplished. It seemed inevitable that 20th Century would push for a sequel to Alien: Romulus, given the financial success of the movie, and the critical acclaim. And because I’m protective of the franchise, I’m thrilled by the recent comments director Fede Alvarez made about the sequel’s development.
Fede Alvarez understands the challenges that come with making sequels to some of the most beloved horror franchises of all time. In 2013, the director stepped into the Evil Dead series, and turned heads with his violence. He helped launch Don’t Breathe into its own franchise, but then shifted into the Lisbeth Salander adaptations for The Girl in the Spider’s Web. You might think that he’d want to keep branching out into his own worlds, but he instead decided to reinvent the Alien series with Alien: Romulus. He will have the opportunity to return to this galaxy if he wanted to, but in a conversation with Empire, he explained some of his hesitancy when he said:
The mistake usually with sequels is to make them because you can, and because of the success of Romulus, we definitely can make a sequel. But I wouldn’t do it unless we have a really good idea for it, something that’s worthy of the title.
How often do you hear that from a director? Fede Alvarez is basically turning up his nose to a guaranteed paycheck from a major studio to continue his story, because he doesn’t want to push on unless he has a reason. Too many people would easily say yes, then figure the story out after the fact. Instead, we see examples like Alvarez or Matt Reeves on The Batman series who are willing to press pause on production and wait until a script is ready.
As for the status of the script of a possible Alien: Romulus sequel, Fede Alvarez had an update. And it has me very excited, because I know that he’s hoping up the bar of quality before he gets back in the saddle. Speaking to Empire, Alvarez said:
Rodo [Sayagues, co-writer] and I are working on that right now. We’re excited about where it can go. We’ve almost checked all of the boxes of things that I want to see [in Romulus], and brought back a lot of the things I hadn’t seen in a while. Wherever we go now, we can go into uncharted waters. … I think it’ll be so exciting to go with characters you know from this movie, to a place in the Alien franchise that we’ve never been before, and to discover things that you’ve never seen before.
We won’t see an Alien: Romulus sequel this year. If it happens at all, I’m thinking 2026 or 2027. So while you are waiting, dial up our guide to upcoming 2025 movies, and plan a more recent trip to the theaters.
