As Alien: Romulus bursted into theaters on the 2024 movie schedule, it’s a good time to be a fan of the Alien movie timeline. With the success of Fede Àlvarez’s mid-quel stoking the fires of everyone who’s enjoyed watching Xenomorphs on the big screen, and Noah Hawley’s FX series heading our way in 2025, the world of these horrific killing machines seems to be on the rise.
Now that sentiment is about to become even more applicable, because after loving Romulus myself, I’m absolutely pumped about a new franchise entry that has been announced. Any of you readers who have played Alien: Isolation are sure to be stunned as well, as a sequel to the 2014 video game is now in development!
This news came from the creative director Al Hope, who broke the news via the game’s official X (formerly known as Twitter) presence, in this message:
Personally, I find this announcement to be even sweeter after remembering how Alien: Romulus was inspired by Isolation. Knowing how much Fede and his team loved this chapter forged between Sega and Creative Assembly, and with the assumption that Romulus’ modest success in theaters is a huge part of why this came to be, Alien: Isolation 2 is more than just a wish finally granted for fans.
It’s also another chance to once again explore the ever expanding lore of what happened during Ellen Ripley’s extended cryosleep. Following Ellen’s daughter Amanda (Andrea Deck), Alien: Isolation gave fans the chance to survive everything from the obviously pursuing Xenomorph to Synthetics known as “Working Joes.”
All the while, Amanda Ripley’s quest to find out what happened to her mother plays out in a story that’s slotted in five years before Alien: Romulus arrives. Based on her own fate at the end of Alien: Isolation, there really is no way to know where this new adventure is going to go.
Thanks to Alien: Isolation 2 now being in the works, it’s going to be fun to realize how and where Amanda’s continuing adventures will fit into the series, especially after Alien: Romulus’ wild ending. Will she run into further complications that arise from the existence of Substance Z-01? And will what we know about Alien: Earth impact this next chapter in video game delight? Time will tell, as we’re probably a couple of years away from whenever this Isolation sequel will be released.
For now, Alien fans have plenty to look forward to in the immediate future. Not only is Alien: Romulus going to be available for digital purchase and rental on October 15th, but the Marvel Comics one-shot acting as the film’s prequel will be hitting shelves on October 23rd. And for anyone who wants to revisit the cinematic entries in the Alien canon, use your Hulu subscription to jump back into the terror.
