Recently came the news that filmmaker Fede Álvarez would not be returning to direct the sequel to his 2024 hit “Alien: Romulus”.
That was a surprise. In January, Alvarez offered an update on the project saying he and co-writer Rodo Sayagues were working on the script. By February he told Collider: “I think the sequel is my next movie” and “I hope I can shoot it this year”.
That tune changed earlier this month when word came he was no longer directing, only producing the film alongside director Ridley Scott and that he’s going to “pass the torch on this one as director”.
At the time there was also reports Alvarez dropped back only to producing due to creative differences with Scott. Now, speaking at HorrorHound Weekend with Epic Film Guys Jeremy, Alvarez says he was never going to direct:
“I don’t think I was ever going to [direct Alien: Romulus 2]. We always knew right when we finished that this is one of those things where you come in and you do one, and get out… All those directors I love [Cameron, Fincher], they just went, did one, [and] they left. Ridley, obviously, he created it, so he has the right to make a bunch of them.
But we did want to write it. Mostly it’s because we love the characters we created, so we want to make sure no one kills them right at the beginning of the next one…They went and killed Hicks and Newt just like that, and we were like, ‘Hey, let’s not let that happen.’ So we wrote it and made sure they stayed alive, and now we can let someone else make it.”
Despite the explanation, reaction has been sceptical to the comments thus far. Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are expected to return for the new film which will take place after the events of ‘Romulus’ which is set in 2142 – 20 years after the original alien and 37 before those of “Aliens”.
No director is attached to the “Alien: Romulus” sequel at present.
