Alien: Romulus was a big success at the box office, and 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell recently confirmed that early plans are in pace for a sequel.
Director Fede Álvarez has now confirmed that he is in talks to return, while explaining why he's hesitant to move forward until they have a story worth telling.
"Well, I mean, we definitely want to do it," the Don't Breathe director tells Gizmodo. "The studio wants to do it. I want to do it. I think with sequels, it’s always about finding the right story. Me and Rodo [Sayagues], my co-writer, we have some ideas, but it’s not until we find something that we go 'Ok, that is a movie worth making' that we really embark on it. So that’s the process we are in right now, trying to find a story that is worthy of everyone’s time and is worthy of the title.
Otherwise, you never want to fall into the mistake of making [a sequel] just because the first one is a big hit … [making a sequel] just because you can make it, that’s always a recipe for disaster."
A follow-up will almost certainly continue the journey of the survivors of the previous movie, Rain Carradine and her android brother, Andy.
"The two survivors, Rain and Andy, played by Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, were real highlights of the film," Asbell said in an interview last month. "And so I always think of it like, 'Wow, where do people want to see them go next?” We know there’s going to be aliens. We know there’s going to be great horror set pieces. But I fell in love with both of them and I want to see what their story is.'"
"Not a perfect organism, but despite an overreliance on retreading over old ground, Alien: Romulus does mark a thrilling return to form, and is surely destined to be ranked as the third-best Alien movie," we said in our review of Alien: Romulus.
"The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe."
The film stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), and Aileen Wu. Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Alien: Romulus is produced by Ridley Scott (Napoleon), who directed the original Alien and produced and directed the series’ entries Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Michael Pruss (Boston Strangler), and Walter Hill (Alien), with Fede Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (Charlie’s Angels), Brent O’Connor (Bullet Train), and Tom Moran (Unstoppable) serving as executive producers.