The Next Alien Movie Gets Major Update After Disappointing Change

The Alien franchise has sprung back in a big way during the 2020s. Alien launched a successful movie reboot in 2024 with Alien: Romulus, followed by a successful TV show, Alien: Earth, and a line of Marvel comics that are either set in the Alien universe or crossover with Marvel’s Universe. After that first wave of successes, it’s time for a repeat – including a sequel to Alien: Romulus. However, there’s been one big challenge to getting the sequel into production: finding a director. Romulus director Fede Álvarez is not returning to direct the sequel; he’s just writing the screenplay. There’s been a search for a replacement director, but that process hit a hurdle recently. Now, however, it sounds like the production is getting over that hump.

It was previously reported that the producers of the Alien: Romulus sequel were eyeing director Demián Rugna (When Evil Lurks), but that turned out to be half-rumor, and half-wishful thinking by Fede Álvarez. But according to new reports, there’s another director who is now being considered for the project.

A Quiet Place Prequel Director Being Eyed For Alien: Romulus Sequel

Michael Sarnoski is reportedly “being considered” to direct the next Alien movie, and is “the preferred candidate,” according to Nexus Point News. There have been no official details about the next film, other than that it will still follow Romulus protagonists Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her android “brother,” Andy (David Jonsson). The pair were the sole survivors of their ill-fated heist of a Weyland-Yutani research station, Renaissance. Rain and Andy escaped the station on a ship loaded with fully powered cryostasis tubes, which could guarantee they reached the lush colony world of Yvaga III. Fede Álvarez has promised that Rain and Andy will not be immediately killed off in the next film (an Alien franchise tradition…), so either their intended journey will take a dark detour, or they arrive on the ideal new world, with some facehugger parasites in tow. And then their new home would suddenly become a familiar hell.

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Sarnoski has been quietly establishing himself as a director who can meld horror, thrills, and character drama like few others. He blew cinephiles away with his 2021 mystery-thriller-character-drama Pig, starring Nic Cage. In 2024, Sarnoski made the jump to blockbuster horror with the prequel film A Quiet Place: Day One. That third entry in the A Quiet Place series took fans back to the very first day of the alien invasion, within the crowded urban jungle of NYC. It arguably delivered some of the greatest spectacle moments of the entire series, but also never lost focus of a deeply personal character story about a dying woman (Lupita Nyong’o) whose outlook on life is suddenly rekindled by the apocalypse.

A Quiet Place: Day One earned $262 million on a budget of $67 million. Granted, that is the lowest return for the biggest budget in the franchise, but still well within range of what A Quiet Place Part II earned: $297 million on a budget of $61 million. Day One also had the best opening weekend in the series, which is just another feather in Sarnoski’s cap. The filmmaker also cited James Cameron’s Aliens as one of his biggest inspirations, so like Álvarez, he could end up being a director who has just as much love for Alien as any diehard fanboy. It worked out for Alien: Romulus, which sold a classic Alien movie experience to a whole new generation of fans. I could very well work again with Sarnoski.

Alien: Romulus‘s sequel is currently in development. No release date has been set.