Alien: Romulus Confirmed as Official Title for New Entry in Beloved Franchise

The upcoming Alien movie from Fede Álvarez has largely been kept under wraps, and while the project has been referred to as Alien: Romulus in various reports, this week saw Disney CEO Bob Iger confirm that this was the official title of the new movie. Similar to other films in the franchise Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, the title doesn’t offer much insight into what the actual narrative will be about, but getting any new details about the project is a reminder that we’re getting our first film in the series since 2017 later this year. Alien: Romulus is set to hit theaters on August 16th.

The new film was developed by Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe director Álvarez and stars Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. The movie was previously teased as following “a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Despite how little we know about the project, we do know it’s a movie set in the world of xenomorphs though doesn’t directly connect to the events of other entries. Star Spaeny also previously confirmed that the project takes place between the events of Alien and Aliens.

“It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie,” Spaeny revealed to Variety in November 2023. “They brought the same team from Aliens, the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.”  

To date, the Alien franchise has earned six proper entries, which includes Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant. The franchise also earned two crossover events with the Predator franchise with Alien vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, as well as a number of comic books and video games.

While The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox made some audiences apprehensive about how the studio would handle the more mature-themed properties, fans can expect not only this upcoming Alien: Romulus, but also an Alien TV series from Fargo’s Noah Hawley. Luckily, under its 20th Century Studios banner, Disney has still managed to deliver audiences intense subject matter that doesn’t have to pull its punches.

Alien: Romulus is set to hit theaters on August 16th.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!