Alien fans are discovering a timeline detail regarding the next film in the horror sci-fi franchise, which recently received the Ridley Scott seal of approval.
A new Alien movie has been in the works for some time, with Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe director Fede Álvarez tapped to oversee the project. It will be the first Alien film since Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant in 2017, with Scott, according to Álvarez, recently calling the film “f***ing great”.
The film will be a standalone story, but lead star Cailee Spaeny, who is currently winning rave reviews for Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, has now revealed when exactly in the Alien universe it will be set in.
Speaking at the Gotham Awards in Los Angeles on Monday (27 November), Spaeny said the forthcoming release, titled Alien: Romulus, will take place in between Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens.
“It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie,” Spaeny told Variety, adding: “They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours.
“So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.”
At the time of writing, it’s unknown whether the film will refer to Ellen Ripley, the character played by Sigourney Weaver in the aforementioned Alien films, as well as Alien 3 (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997).
Weaver was originally set to reprise the role in a new film from District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp, which would have been a follow-up to Aliens. Speaking to The Independent in 2021, Blomkamp said his “assumption” was that the project was “completely dead” due to Scott’s Alien: Covenant.
“I’m not sure that I would do that project [anymore],” the filmmaker said, adding: “It was a case of both projects were moving forward at Fox simultaneously, and one of them was picked.”
Blomkamp continued: “Sigourney was unbelievably supportive and amazing. I have nothing but the best things to say about Sigourney. I’m such a fan of hers on every level. She was always into the project, but Fox just clearly doesn’t want it. I haven’t had anything to do with that for years.”
Cailee Spaeny in ‘Priscilla’— (MUBI)
A new Alien series from Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley is also in production, starring Sydney Chandler and Timothy Olyphant.
Priscilla will be released on 1 January 2024, with special 35mm previews available from 26 December 2023. Alien: Romulus is currently set for 16 August 2024.
