On Friday came the news that Fede Alvarez would not be returning to direct the sequel to last year’s “Alien: Romulus”.
Both Cailee Spaeny as ‘Rain’ Carradine and David Jonsson as Andy are expected to return for the follow-up which Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues had been writing since the first film opened.
In February this year Alvarez indicated the script seemed to have come together well, saying at the time “[I] think the sequel is my next movie” and hopes to shoot it this year.
Seven months on, he’s suddenly no longer directing – only producing – alongside Ridley Scott, telling TooFab this week the script is now finished and he’s going to “pass the torch on this one as director”.
Now, The Hot Mic’s Jeff Sneider says he’s been hearing that the director’s version of events is spin and a possible clash with producer Ridley Scott is what led to Alvarez essentially being fired as director:
“This whole ‘we’re going to pass the torch’… you have been talking and planning this for the last year. The torch got passed over him. Ridley [Scott] might be bigfooting him. Fede wanted to use Michael Fassbender, and Ridley said no because ‘I may want to come back to the series,’ and if so ‘I want to be the one who brings him back and uses him’. Obviously, who is going to win that clash, Ridley. It was creative differences, let’s put it that way.”
Where things go from here is not clear, with speculation ranging from Scott coming back to Noah Hawley making the jump to the big screen. Hawley’s still in the midst of airing “Alien: Earth” TV series has been decidedly more well-received than ‘Romulus’ with critics, but was also designed to have another season or two if Disney wants to pursue it – which would likely rule Hawley out from any potential film direction.
