“Don’t Breathe” and “Evil Dead” director Fede Álvarez is reviving the “Alien” franchise next year with the release of a new sequel (reportedly titled “Alien: Romulus“), which he co-wrote with Rodo Sayagues. The film will tell a new story within the “Alien” universe after the film franchise came to a halt following Ridley Scott‘s prequel films “Prometheus” (2012) and “Alien: Covenant” (2017). The latter’s middling box office ended Scott’s run. “Alien: Romulus” will be the first “Alien” movie released since Disney acquired Fox.
Speaking to Guillermo del Toro at the DGA Latino Summit 2023 (around the 18:35 mark), Álvarez confirmed that his “director’s cut” of “Alien: Romulus” is finished and he recently “had to go through the incredibly tense process of obviously sending it to Ridley Scott,” who is a lead producer on the sequel. Scott directed the original “Alien” in 1979.
“I wanted him to see it before anybody,” Álvarez said. “And everyone gave me the head’s up that Ridley is really tough. He’s really tough, particularly if it has something to do with his movies. He was really tough on ‘Blade Runner [2049],’ which I thought was a masterpiece, and he had issues with it because it’s really hard for him because it’s his work. I asked him about the new ‘Top Gun’ and he’s like ‘meh.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he was like, ‘My brother’s was original and this is like eh.’ He really respected it, but you could see how tough he was. So I was like, ‘There’s no way I win this one.'”
Álvarez was “terrified” to meet in person with Scott after Scott watched “Alien: Romulus” for the first time, but he knew he had to be there in person to listen to Scott’s thoughts.
“Even if he didn’t ask for it, I was gonna go there and sit at a table and look at him and get it,” the director said. “Even if he was gonna say, ‘You destroyed my legacy,’ I wanted to be in front of him and see him in the eye. I didn’t want to get an email where it says ‘Ridley says…’
“And then he walks into the room and he did say, ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s fucking great,'” Álvarez continued about Scott’s reaction to the film. “For me it was like… My family knows it was one of the best moments of my life to have a master like him, who I admired so much, to even watch a movie I made but particularly something like this… and talk to me for an hour about what he liked about it. One of the best compliments he said was, ‘The dialogue is great. Are you the writer?’ Yes!”
20th Century Studios and Disney have yet to reveal much about the “Alien: Romulus” plot, outside of teasing that it centers on“a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” “Priscilla” breakout Cailee Spaeny is leading the cast opposite David Jonsson (“Industry”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“Rosaline”), Spike Fearn (“The Batman”) and Aileen Wu (“Away From Home”).
“Alien: Romulus” is set for release on Aug. 16, 2024.
