Alien: Romulus takes place between the events of Sir Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's Aliens, a creative decision which opened the door to exciting cameos and world-building opportunities.
The movie cleverly brought back Ian Holm as the android Rook after the late actor previously played Ash in the 1979 classic. There was some controversy due to the use of CGI and AI, but longtime fans appreciated the connective tissue with what's come before.
Alien: Romulus ended with something of a cliffhanger and filmmaker Fede Álvarez is already hard at work on a sequel. According to insider Daniel Richtman (via SFFGazette.com), there are discussions about bringing back Sigourney Weaver's Ripley with de-aging technology.
Disney has mastered the ability to de-age actors - largely through MCU projects - so we've no doubt Weaver would look as badass as ever returning to her most iconic role.
There are several different periods in which Ripley could be revisited, though post-Aliens is a setting we're sure many of you would be most excited to explore. And how much of a thrill would it be to see Weaver share the screen with Cailee Spaeny's Rain Carradine?
"Rodo [Sayagues, co-writer] and I are working on that right now," Álvarez said of the sequel in a recent interview. "We’re excited about where it can go. 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."
"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," the filmmaker added, promising to continue Rain's story.
"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," Álvarez added. "But I wouldn’t do it unless we have a really good idea for it, something that’s worthy of the title."
Alien: Romulus arrived in theaters last August, earning glowing reviews (it's "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes at 80%) and an impressive $350 million at the worldwide box office.
The sci-fi/horror-thriller took the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Alien: Romulus is now streaming on Disney+ and available on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.