A New ‘Alien’ Movie Will Revisit the Franchise’s Most Divisive Prequels
The ‘Alien’ franchise has spent the last few years pulling in several directions at once. The ‘Alien: Earth’ TV series from Noah Hawley is now streaming, while the announced ‘Alien: Romulus’ sequel remains in limbo. Through it all, one big question has lingered: what happened to the prequel story Ridley Scott started more than a decade ago?
That story stopped abruptly in 2017. ‘Alien: Covenant’ ended on an ominous cliffhanger with no real resolution or enough connective tissue to the original ‘Alien’, which it takes place 18 years before. Scott has hinted for a while that he wasn’t done, telling French outlet AlloCiné in August 2026 that he already had a footprint for the next chapter and planned to pick up where ‘Covenant’ left off with Michael Fassbender’s character.
Now, those hints have turned into something concrete. A new ‘Alien’ movie is in the works at 20th Century Studios, with ‘Prisoners’ writer Aaron Guzikowski tapped to pen the script. While plot details are being kept under wraps, The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke the news, said the project is tied to ‘Prometheus’ and ‘Alien: Covenant’.
Notably, this means the new film is not the long-rumored sequel to ‘Romulus’. Instead, the main connective thread is expected to be Fassbender’s android David, a supporting character in ‘Prometheus’ and a full-on antagonist in ‘Covenant’.
Scott has been fairly open about where he wants to take the character. According to the director, the sequel will follow David as he builds a new world for himself, though neither Fassbender nor a director is attached to the project yet.
Scott won’t be calling the shots from the director’s chair, at least for now. He is producing alongside Michael Pruss through their Scott Free banner but is not currently set to direct. According to the trade’s sources, Scott personally turned to Guzikowski to jumpstart the project.
The new trailer for ‘ALIEN: ROMULUS’ has been released. In theaters on August 16. https://t.co/ccRs1TK8z0
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 4, 2024
That choice makes sense given their history together. Guzikowski created ‘Raised by Wolves’, the HBO Max sci-fi series, with Scott serving as executive producer and directing its first 2 episodes. Reuniting the pair suggests Scott wants a collaborator who already understands his particular brand of philosophical science fiction.
Guzikowski is best known for writing Denis Villeneuve’s 2013 thriller ‘Prisoners’, and his slate is staying busy. He is also writing an original sci-fi movie for Jon Watts at 20th Century, adapting a Philip K. Dick short story at Sony, and penning the animated ‘Death Stranding’ movie based on Hideo Kojima’s game.
The news also reshuffles the franchise’s priorities. With Scott’s prequel thread now moving forward, the ‘Romulus’ sequel appears to be taking a back seat for the time being. Scott himself didn’t exactly gush about that film, telling AlloCiné that he thought it was just okay.
For fans who felt ‘Covenant’ left them hanging, this is a long-awaited development. The project is still in early development, so there’s no cast, director, or release window to speak of yet.
Even with so much unknown, the creative pairing has sparked plenty of excitement. Some outlets have argued that Guzikowski’s feature work ensures a fresh perspective will be brought into the next entry. Others believe Scott has a pretty robust idea of where he wants the story to go, which could help the project move quickly.
Whether David’s dark ambitions finally connect the prequels to the 1979 original remains to be seen. For now, the android’s unfinished story has a writer, a producer, and a studio behind it again.
Which direction would you most like the Alien franchise to take next?
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