Fede Alvarez, the Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead director behind last year’s Alien: Romulus, is looking to the future of the iconic sci-fi horror franchise – and what he might be delivering to it next.
While the latest instalment paid homage to the series’ roots, Alvarez has teased that any potential sequel would steer the Alien saga into bold, unfamiliar territory. Speaking to Empire, he revealed that he and longtime co-writer Rodo Sayagues are actively brainstorming fresh ideas.
“Rodo and I are working on that right now,” Alvarez explained. “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.”
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For Romulus, Alvarez worked to bridge the gap between Ridley Scott’s tense horror in Alien and James Cameron’s high-octane action in Aliens. But his approach wasn’t limited to those classics. The film also drew inspiration from later franchise entries like Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, and even the beloved Alien: Isolation video game. This careful balance allowed Alvarez to create something that felt fresh while still paying tribute to the series’ legacy.
The potential sequel could also continue the story of Rain, the character played by Cailee Spaeny in Romulus. Alvarez hinted at exploring new possibilities with familiar faces. “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,” he said.
However, Alvarez is clear that he won’t rush into a follow-up simply because he can. “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,” he stated. “But I wouldn’t do it unless we have a really good idea for it, something that’s worthy of the title.”
From an estimated production budget of $US80 million, Alien: Romulus raked in an impressive $US350 million worldwide. It was also well received with critics and audiences; on Rotten Tomatoes, for example, it has an 80% score from critics and an 85% from audiences.
It’s always promising to have a filmmaker signal a commitment to quality over speed. If a sequel does materialise, we can only hope that Alvarez delivers another chapter worthy of the xenomorph legacy.
