The ALIEN: ROMULUS Sequel Script Is Finished But Fede Álvarez Has Vacated The Director's Chair

The ALIEN: ROMULUS Sequel Script Is Finished But Fede Álvarez Has Vacated The Director's Chair

While Fede Álvarez has finished writing the script for the upcoming Alien: Romulus sequel, he has announced that he will not direct.

By MarkJulian - Sep 07, 2025 04:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Alien
Source: Fear HQ

Alien: Romulus was hailed by fans and critics alike and turned in strong box office numbers, but it seems that won't be enough to keep  Fede Álvarez on board for the sequel, at least as its director.

Álvarez will remain involved with the follow-up as a producer and co-writer alongside Rodo Sayagues, but the Evil Dead director wants his next directorial effort to be on an original concept, not an existing IP.

Speaking to TooFab, Alvarez cited the fact that the Alien franchise has somewhat thrived on the notion of directors passing the torch to new, up-and-coming filmmakers, and he wants to keep that loose tradition going.

"We just finished the script, actually, for a sequel for Romulus. But I'm gonna pass the torch on this one as director," Alvarez stated. "I'm going to produce it, with Ridley Scott, we're gonna produce it together, and we're right now trying to find a new filmmaker to come in."

"I think that's usually what has happened, except for Ridley, filmmakers come, you make one, and you pass the baton to the next one. But we wrote the story because we really love what we started with Romulus, and we want to continue the story. We love the story, and now we just want to find a director who really wants to go for the jugular."

Ridley Scott, director of the original Alien (1979), will also be involved with the Romulus sequel as a co-producer. And with Álvarez and Sayagues returning to handle the script, the project should maintain its established creative DNA, even with a new director's vision.

Alien: Romulus was originally developed as a streaming-only release for Hulu before Disney made a mid-production pivot. That change in director proved profitable as Romulus grossed $350.9 million worldwide from a modest production budget of just $80 million, going on to also earn an 80% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Alien: Romulus” takes 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. The film stars Cailee Spaeny (“Civil War”), David Jonsson (“Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“The Last of Us”), Spike Fearn (“Aftersun”), Aileen Wu.

Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead,” “Don’t Breathe”) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (“Don’t Breathe 2”) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

“Alien: Romulus” is produced by Ridley Scott (“Napoleon”), who directed the original “Alien” and produced and directed the series’ entries “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” Michael Pruss (“Boston Strangler”), and Walter Hill (“Alien”), with Fede Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (“Charlie’s Angels”), Brent O’Connor (“Bullet Train”), and Tom Moran (“Unstoppable”) serving as executive producers.

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SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 9/7/2025, 4:10 PM
This tells me that Fede Alvarez will become the overseer of the Alien franchise going forward. He will be the Kevin Feige of the Alien movies and act as the Producer on every project.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/7/2025, 6:21 PM
@SonOfAGif - You mean like Ridley Scott does?
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 9/7/2025, 7:36 PM
@ObserverIO - Yeah. Eventually Ridley is going to retire.
amesjazz
amesjazz - 9/7/2025, 4:13 PM
Really sucks. I would've liked to see his style continue in a sequel. Romulus was cool
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 9/7/2025, 4:14 PM
Good, when the director of a succesful series continues, it tends to go south straight away.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 9/7/2025, 4:17 PM
I don't even know how to explain what I meant, lol
Vigor
Vigor - 9/7/2025, 6:27 PM
@RegularPoochie - lol I was about to say um, can you cite any examples ?
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 9/7/2025, 4:20 PM
GOOD, phuck that guy, but who is the writer on this one? that is the real issue these days. alien earth has a far more interesting concept then Romulus did but again the writing on that show is complete dogshit.
Comicmoviejunki
Comicmoviejunki - 9/7/2025, 4:29 PM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
FinnishDude
FinnishDude - 9/7/2025, 4:39 PM
I feel he did fine as the director, most my problems with Romulus came from the script.
dracula
dracula - 9/7/2025, 4:48 PM
What if they got Dan Trachtenberg

Start gearing up for AVP
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 9/7/2025, 4:56 PM
@dracula - that would be sick
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 9/7/2025, 5:19 PM
@dracula - yes it would be awesome. High risk, high reward!
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 9/7/2025, 4:56 PM
Dang, I really liked what he did with Romulus. I get what he is saying about handing off things to someone else, though I still wish he had been directing. But, since he wrote the script and will produce, that will hopefully mean the sequel will be as high a quality as Romulis.
theFUZZ008
theFUZZ008 - 9/7/2025, 5:00 PM
Romulus wasn’t that great.
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 9/7/2025, 5:03 PM
Mid director, awful writer. Him still being involved with the writing immediately kills my hopes.
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 9/7/2025, 5:11 PM
Too bad, I like what he did with the Alien and Evil Dead franchises.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 9/7/2025, 5:28 PM

Alien and Aliens are 2 of the best movies ever made. I'm still waiting for another great one.

amesjazz
amesjazz - 9/7/2025, 5:52 PM
@DocSpock - I really don't understand why they've never tried to copy Aliens more. I LOVE the original Alien but I want Marines and pulse rifles back but they refuse for some reason.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 9/7/2025, 7:29 PM
@amesjazz -

I hear ya. They don't know what they want to be. They can't figure out how to do a good job of combining sci-fi and horror.

Alien was the best horror movie of all time. Aliens was the best sci-fi of all time. That's why they keep trying to recapture that greatness for almost 5 decades.

The new TV show is pretty good so far. It's certainly different from all previous attempts.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/7/2025, 6:15 PM
Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, The Martian)
James Cameron (Terminator, T2, Titanic, Avatar)
David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac)
Jean Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Amelie)

And this guy (A pretty decent Evil Dead remake and some other disposable horror flicks)
amesjazz
amesjazz - 9/7/2025, 6:28 PM
@ObserverIO - I mean to be fair all those movies came after they made their Alien films.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/7/2025, 6:44 PM
@amesjazz - well not all of them, but yeah a lot of em. The first three were relatively new commodities, Scott and Cameron only had one movie each. But one of those movies was Terminator. Fincher was already a shit-hot music video director (which in the '90s was a well-regarded artform) and Jean Pierre Jeunet already had two cult movies under his belt, Delicatessen and City of Lost Children.

Alverez has had enough films out that we already know the kind of director he is and it ain't on the level of any of the previous four.
amesjazz
amesjazz - 9/7/2025, 6:52 PM
@ObserverIO - I think Fede is a great director but the script for Romulus was rough. I feel like his direction elevated the material. I agree hes not in the same universe as those others but I feel like he got the closest to capturing the spirit of those films than other recent Alien films.
Laridian
Laridian - 9/7/2025, 7:17 PM
I really liked ROMULUS. I don't see why it was divisive.

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