Fede Álvarez Explains That He Never Planned on Directing the ‘Alien: Romulus’ Sequel

We learned just last week that Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez will not be returning to direct the upcoming sequel, which left many fans of last year’s movie disappointed. “I’m gonna pass the torch on this one as director,” the filmmaker told TooFab last week.

Speaking at HorrorHound Weekend this past weekend, Álvarez touched a bit more on those comments, revealing that he never planned on directing more than one Alien movie.

“I dont think I was ever going to [direct Romulus 2],” Álvarez told the crowd at HorrorHound. “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.”

Álvarez continued, “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. We wrote it and made sure they stayed alive, and now we can let someone else make it.”

Thanks to Jeremy Todd from Epic Film Guys for the quotes and video (below).

Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues have indeed completed a script for the Alien: Romulus sequel, with the search for a new director presumably underway. Stay tuned for updates.

Álvarez has made his mark on a few franchises over the years, including Evil Dead, but it’s interesting to note that he’s to date never directed a sequel to one of his movies. His home invasion horror movie Don’t Breathe did get a sequel, but Rodo Sayagues took over as director.

Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, who starred in Alien: Romulus as Rain Carradine and her synthetic brother Andy, respectively, are expected to reprise their roles in the sequel.