Ridley Scott has confirmed he’s working on a sequel to his 2017 film, Alien: Covenant, focusing on Michael Fassbender’s psychotic AI.
However, a sequel to Fede Álvarez’s 2024 flick, Alien: Romulus, is also being planned by 20th Century Studios.
It begs the question: how much Alien is too much on the big screen, and can these competing strands of franchise lore coexist?
Scott confirms ‘Alien: Covenant’ follow-up
Alien: Covenant was the second Alien prequel and sequel to the marmite movie Prometheus.
It saw Fassbender’s AI David carry out some wicked acts in a bid to create, in his own words, the “perfect organism”, and his f***ery resulted in the creation of the Xenomorph.
A slightly morbid ending depicts David’s triumph, the Covenant spaceship under his control, and a horde of humans on ice ready to be incubated.
Scott confirmed in an interview with The L.A. Times that he wishes to pick up that story with a third Alien prequel.
He says it will see David creating “a brave new world for himself.”
It’s a character that Scott is reportedly very fond of, and his determination to continue the mad AI’s story is apt in this day and age.
“AIs can go off,” Scott claims. “And if they do, it’s like a bomb.”
But what of ‘Alien: Romulus’?
Alien: Romulus is more of a blunt instrument, in the vein of the franchise’s first two films (Alien and Aliens) rather than Scott’s more recent thematic explorations.
It’s set between those two entries, in 2142, 20 years after the events of Alien and 37 years before those of Aliens.
The jettisoned Xenomorph from the original film lays the foundation for a new generation of facehuggers and alien predators to terrorise a new cast of characters aboard a space station.
Two characters survive the ordeal: Cailee Spaeny’s Rain and her trusted AI ally/brother Andy, played by David Jonsson.
They only make it after a hellish human-Xenomorph hybrid does its best to kill Rain and disgust audiences.
A sequel will see Álvarez step from the director’s chair to the producer’s one, but rushing into a Romulus follow-up isn’t the desired outcome; rather, a more methodical approach.
Álvarez told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2024 that, “My philosophy is that you should never make [a sequel] in two years.
“You’ve got to get away. You’ve got to get the audience to really want it.
“If you think about Alien and Aliens, there’s seven years between them. But we definitely have ideas about where it should go.”
Those ideas at the time revolved around where Rain and Andy were trying to get to before the basty Xenomorph shenanigans, a supposedly idyllic world.
Alongside his co-writer Rodo Sayagues, Álvarez pondered, “‘What do you think happens when or if they get to Yvaga? Is it going to be great? Or is it a terrible place?’
“We tend to believe it’s probably a terrible place that they think is great and fantasise about, so we naturally started thinking about where it goes and what’s going to happen. And then, a few minutes in, we go, ‘Oh, that sounds like a sequel.’”
So which direction is best for the ‘Alien’ franchise?
It’s safe to say that, like Prometheus before it, Alien: Covenant didn’t receive widespread acclaim.
Alien: Romulus, meanwhile, was a surprise hit widely hailed as reviving a franchise that has meandered and misfired with every entry that followed James Cameron’s wild Aliens in 1986.
While Scott seems invested in adding layer upon layer to a continually convoluted franchise lore, Álvarez did what the Alien franchise does best: he kept it simple.
Scary alien, scared humans; one tries to kill the other.
Gore, violence, and horror- that’s all the franchise needs.
So, if you were to plump for only one sequel, Romulus seems like the better bet.
There’s a recency bias, as well as the fact that it outgrossed Covenant by over $100 million.
Still, if both were to exist, that’s no problem either, as Scott knows this franchise inside out, and his prolific film output still has room for great works in between the misfires.
What certainly shouldn’t happen is the two being blended, as that would be a disservice to both story strands.
Scott remarked in his L.A. Times conversation that while his production company has up to 40 projects on its slate, some eventually fizzle out.
It might sound harsh, but if his Covenant sequel did, it would be no great loss.
Romulus was a great return to form for the Alien franchise, and any distractions from this film getting a deserved follow-up would be a dire shame.
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