Alien: Romulus sequel may hit cinemas sooner than you'd guess

Alien: Romulus only came out in cinemas last year, but director Fede Alvarez says he hopes to shoot a sequel in 2025.

The best Alien movie since 1986? Some think Alien: Romulus might just be — so plans for a sequel are not a huge surprise — but if it all pans out, the follow-up may be in cinemas in 2026.

“I hope I can shoot it this year,” Alvarez told Collider in a recent interview.

"For a sequel now, I think there’s a vast horizon in front of us for where we can go because Alien is so many things. Alien is Alien, it’s Prometheus, and everything in between. It’s such a big universe. I think now I would love to go, and the plan is to go into truly uncharted waters for the franchise,” he says.

Will Alvarez dig more into the sci-fi side than the horror next time? That part we don’t know yet, but stuff — something — is happening on this one.

“We have a path, an idea that I’m really excited about for the continuation to really push the saga,” he says.

What's going to happen in Alien: Romulus 2?

Movie exec Steve Asbell did give us some clues in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, not long after Alien: Romulus came to cinemas. He appears to suggest Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson will return, if they can get those rising stars to sign up at least.

"The two survivors, Rain and Andy, played by Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, were real highlights of the film. And so I always think of it like, “Wow, where do people want to see them go next?” We know there’s going to be aliens. We know there’s going to be great horror set pieces. But I fell in love with both of them and I want to see what their story is,” said Asbell.

Jonsson is having something of a moment, having just picked up a Rising Star public-voted BAFTA, while he is set to star in Frank Ocean’s upcoming debut, among other film projects.

However, to further muddy up the waters, Alien: Romulus producer Michael Pruss recently told ScreenRant the film’s follow-up may not actually be a straight sequel.

“I am involved in the sequel with Ridley and our friends and colleagues and Fede, course. We are working on ideas for another Alien film, which may not be a direct sequel to Romulus, but it certainly is a part of the existing franchise,” says Pruss.

What does this tell us? It's all a bit too early to tell what's going to happen, at least without being able to bug the meeting rooms Ridley Scott and Fede Alvarez are hanging out in.

All of this Alien buzz may never had happened had the film's original plan played out, of releasing Alien: Romulus as a direct-to-streaming movie on Hulu and Disney+. Buoyed by strong reviews, it beat 2017’s Alien: Covenant at the box office, earning $350 million from an $80 million production budget.

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