Alien: Romulus managed to sell an entirely new generation of moviegoers on the Alien movie experience. Director Fede Álavarez spoke directly to Gen Z’s fears of the future, with his story of some ambitious young adults trying to escape their mining colony hell for a literal better world. That doomed quest ended in a revolutionary way for an Alien movie: with two of our protagonists actually fulfilling the goal of voyaging to a better world.
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Of course, if that journey were to end as happily and smoothly as expected, there would be no need for the Alien: Romulus sequel that’s already in the works. But today, fans were hit with an update that may (or may not) shake their faith in the next Alien film: Fede Álvarez will not be directing it.
Word on the directorial change came from Fede Álvarez himself. The director was out for Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights 2025 debut in Hollywood, and spoke to the press on the red carpet. Here’s what he said to Too Fab regarding the Alien: Romulus sequel:
“We just finished the script, actually, for a sequel to Romulus. But I’m gonna pass the torch on this one as director. 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.”
Álvarez tried to assure fans that switching out directors was a normal process for a movie franchise. Although he won’t be at the helm, he made it clear that he had a big hand in the story for the sequel, in addition to being on board alongside Ridley Scott as a producer, to help guide things.
“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,” Álvarez said. “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 that really wants to go for the jugular.”
That news is going to be divisive amongst Alien fans, but then again, not everyone was thrilled with what Fede Álvarez did with Alien: Romulus. Whatever the case, Romulus did establish some new intrigue in the Alien universe, from introducing the “Z-01” serum that could unlock human enhancement, or continuing the story of Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) and her android “brother” Andy (David Jonsson).
There is probably a list of current horror filmmakers that Alien fans would love to see step in to helm the next film; Bring Her Back directors Danny and Michael Philippou immediately spring to mind, as they almost took on the Street Fighter movie, and are rumored to be working with Marvel Studios. Longlegs director Oz Perkins or Weapons director Zach Cregger would be two other obvious choices. Life (2017) and Morbius director Daniel Espinosa would be an up-and-comer pick.
Who would you like to see direct the next Alien movie? Let us know in the comments or discuss with us on the ComicBook Forum!
Alien: Romulus is streaming on Hulu-Disney+.
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