Well, well, well, if it isn’t director Fede Alvarez putting together another Alien movie without us even noticing. In fairness, it was confirmed late last year that a sequel to Alien: Romulus was in development at Disney’s 20th Century Studios. So it’s not a total secret, but we haven’t heard much, officially speaking, since the initial announcement was made. Now though, we have word from Alvarez directly that things are moving right along, with filming on the sequel set to begin surprisingly soon.
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Though virtually no other details were confirmed, Alvarez did reveal on a recent episode of the Marea Nocturna podcast that pre-production is underway on the next Alien movie, with filming set to begin in October. Apparently, he has been working quietly behind the scenes on the script and putting plans together. As for what those plans are, specifically? We’re going to have to wait to find out more, but there’s plenty of room for speculation.
We can pretty safely assume that Cailee Spainy’s Rain and David Jonsson’s Andy will be involved. “Wherever we go now, we can go into uncharted waters,” Alvarez previously said regarding his plans for the Romulus sequel. I think it’ll be so exciting to go with characters you know from this movie, to a place in the Alien franchise that we’ve never been before, and to discover things that you’ve never seen before.”
What we know for sure is that Alien: Romulus was a bigger than expected hit, pulling in more than $350 million at the box office. Not bad for a movie that was supposed to go directly to Hulu. That being the case, it’s not hard to imagine that Disney would want to get a sequel moving sooner rather than later. Plans can certainly change, but as of right now, it sounds like Alvarez and the studio are wasting precisely zero time.
Looking at the bigger picture, the brass at 20th Century Studios have hinted at a possible Alien/Predator shared universe in the future. Director Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands his hitting theaters later this year and Elle Fanning’s character appeared to be a Weyland-Yutani android in the trailer. Can that really be a coincidence? Will Alvarez build on that idea in his sequel? For now, we merely have questions.
Either way, both franchises appear to be thriving at the moment, with the animated Predator: Killer of Killers arriving on Hulu, with the Alien: Earth TV show arriving later this year. There’s much to look forward to in terms of deadly creatures from space, that much is certain.
The Alien: Romulus sequel doesn’t currently have a release date but stay tuned. For more, get the lowdown on the upcoming Attack of the Killer Tomatoes reboot.
