Alien: Romulus' latestsequel update alludes to the same challenge the franchise faced 39 years ago.Alien: Romulusgained commercial and critical acclaim when it was released in 2024, introducing a new younger cast of characters, and following the long-established tradition offinal girls in theAlienfranchise. The newestAlien moviegrossed $350 million at the box office worldwide, placing itself just under 2012’sPrometheus, and has an 80% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes. Ranking as one of the highest-earningAlienmovies, it therefore comes as no surprise that anAlien: Romulussequel has been discussed by director, Fede Álvarez.
Alien: Romulussoft-rebooted theAlienfranchise with a brand-new story, following Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) and her synthetic brother Andy (David Jonsson) as she journeys alongside friends to a nearby abandoned Weyland-Yutani station. The group encounters a few surprises on the vessel as they try to steal cryostasis equipment to help them leave their rundown system. WhileAlien: Romulushas been somewhat criticized for rehashing previous concepts and scenes seen in previousAlienmovies, arecent Fede Álvarez update onAlien: Romulus’sequelhinted at the film being vastly different from its predecessor, mirroring whatAliensdid in 1986.
Alien: Romulus' Director Is Promising The Sequel Will Go In A Different Direction
Álvarez Wants To Focus On Things Alien’s Franchise Has Never Seen Before
In an interview withEmpire,Alien: Romulus’director Fede Álvarez stated “Wherever we go now, we can go into uncharted waters,” hinting at a new direction for a possible sequel. Yet, althoughthe director has promised a departure from the premise of his 2024 movie, Álvarez has confirmed thatAlien: RomuluscharactersRain and Andy will be making a reappearance, saying, “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.”
Ridley Scott’s Dream Movie That Has Yet To Happen Sounds Way More Exciting Than Another Alien Movie
Ridley Scott’s dream Western movie would be much better than another Alien movie as it would enable the director to explore a new and different genre.
With a new direction promised forAlien: Romulus’sequel, it is exciting to think about what may lie ahead in the franchise.Alien: Romulusintroduced the Offspring at the end of the movie, a creature that has not been seen before, although its concept was somewhat established inAlien Resurrection. The movie also connected itself to theAlienprequels,PrometheusandAlien: Covenant, through its inclusion of the mysterious black goo. Therefore,Alien: Romulus’sequel could introduce more new creatures and expand on the connections to the widerAlienlore, while keeping with theAlienfranchise’s movie traditions, such as being female-led.
Aliens Is A Famous Example Of A Sequel Being Very Different To Its Predecessor
Aliens’ Rotten Tomatoes Score Proves The Movie Worked
Another example of a sequel being very different from its original movie is the 1986 film,Aliens.Directed by James Cameron,Aliensis the second movie in the franchise and follows Ellen Ripley as she is recovered by Weyland-Yutani and then sent back to LV-426to investigate their terraforming colony’s radio silence, along with a unit of Colonel Marines. Surprisingly, despite the 1979 original movie being hailed as a classic,Aliensis actually the best movie in the franchise according to Rotten Tomatoesratings, further illustrating how the sequel’s move away from the premise ofAlienwas a good idea.
93%
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44%
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73%
65%
Alien: Romulus (2024)
80%
Sigourney Weaver returning as Ripley inAlien’ssecond moviestarted the franchise’s tradition of always following a female lead. However, having already battled the Xenomorph in the first movie,Aliensneeded to bring something different to the table if there was any hope of succeeding. The sequel did this by changing the tone; instead of repeatingAlien’ssci-fi horror, the introduction of the Marines madeAliensfeel more like an action movie. With both audiences and Ripley having experience with Xenomorphs,Aliensdoesn’t focus on their mysteries and instead launches into an action-packed sci-fi adventure.
Alien: Romulus Not Repeating The First Movie Is Its Best Hope Of Success
A New Story Is Needed To Avoid Callbacks To Previous Films
Alien: Romulus’sequelfaces a similar problem to 1986’sAliensin that it needs to change things up for it to succeed.Sci-fi audiences are already familiar with the Xenomorph in all stages of its life, from its birth to its acidic death, and hybrids have also featured in the franchise. Therefore,Fede Álvarez is right to be cautious about anAlien: Romulussequel, stressing the importance of “trying to find a story that is worthy of everyone’s time and is worthy of the title,” instead of making a sequel just because the first one was successful.
Alien: Romulus’sequel should focus on new ideas as theAlienfranchise journeys into those “uncharted waters.”
Furthermore,Alien: Romulus’countless referencesto previous moments in the franchise led to some criticism.The inclusion of the late Ian Holm via digital and animatronic effects was particularly controversial, and some felt the repeated lines and scene setups were tiresome. This makes Fede Álvarez’s update even more important, as it means there is a chance to improve upon this criticism, moving away from concepts that have been done before.Alien: Romulus’sequel should focus on new ideas as theAlienfranchise journeys into those “uncharted waters.”
Alien: Romulus
Cast
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
