Earlier today, we reported that filmmaker Michael Sarnoski (A Quiet Place: Day One) has emerged as the frontrunner to take over from Fede Álvarez as the Alien: Romulus sequel's director.
There's since been some chatter about the Evil Dead helmer walking away from the movie because David Jonsson wasn't interested in reprising his role as Andy, an android reprogrammed by Rain's late father as her surrogate brother. He was reportedly pivotal to Álvarez's vision for the follow-up.
Well, it seems that the rumour was half-right. Trusted leaker @ViewerAnon has chimed in to claim that the real reason Álvarez stepped away from the Alien franchise was that producer Sir Ridley Scott stopped him from bringing back a familiar face from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
"Curious when we’ll learn the real truth, but I heard Fede and Ridley were butting heads A LOT and that led to Fede's exit," the insider wrote on X. "A friend I trust told me Fede wanted to bring Fassbender back as David, and Ridley shut him down pretty hard."
Introduced in Prometheus, David was an android commissioned and built by Sir Peter Weyland. He served as the basic template for the David 8 and Walter model lines, but possessed creative and emotional capabilities in excess of commercial models. In 2091, he was assigned to the crew of the USCSS Prometheus for its mission to LV-223, and was one of the two survivors of the disastrous expedition, along with Dr. Elizabeth Shaw.
David would go on to discover Planet 4, where he would live alone for a decade after committing genocide against the species that inhabited the planet, carrying out genetic experiments involving the black liquid mutagen and seeking to create the "perfect organism." He was later discovered by the crew of the colony ship USCSS Covenant and ultimately hijacked the vessel for his own nefarious ends.
Neither of Scott's prequel movies set the box office on fire, meaning he didn't get around to concluding David's story or fully explaining the origin of the Xenomorphs. However, if this rumour is correct, he clearly wasn't happy about allowing Álvarez to tie up those loose ends in his place.
"I don't think I was ever going to [return]," Álvarez previously said of his decision not to come back for the follow-up. "We always knew right when we finished – this is one of those things where you come in, and you do one, and get out. Cameron, Fincher. all those directors I love, they went and did one. Obviously, Ridley created it, he has the right to make a bunch of them."
"We did want to write it. Honestly, it’s because we love the characters we created, so we want to make sure no one kills them right at the beginning of the next one. They went and killed Hicks and Newt just like that. Hey, let’s not let that happen," he continued. "We wrote it and made sure they stayed alive, and now we can let someone else make it."
Alien: Romulus has an 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $350.9 million at the worldwide box office. It was widely considered a return to form for the franchise, and while Álvarez penned the sequel's screenplay with Rodo Sayagues, we don't know how much of that will make it into the version that eventually arrives in theaters.