Peacock just landed one of the biggest sci-fi comeback stories of the 21st century. Alien: Romulus will begin streaming on Peacock on Nov. 26.
Alien: Romulus is the first Alien movie produced by Disney, which acquired the franchise’s original studio, 20th Century Fox, in 2017. The sci-fi sequel was a box-office success, earning $350.9 million worldwide on an $80 million budget.
What Is Alien: Romulus About?
Cailee Spaeny surrounded by smoke in Alien RomulusImage via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Alien: Romulus is set between the original Alien movie and its first sequel, Aliens. However, while it touches on some dangling Alien plot threads, it is not a direct sequel. Instead, Romulus introduces a new cast of younger characters who become trapped on a space station with a Xenomorph.
Alien: Romulus was a critical hit, earning a “certified fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score of 80% positive, and an 88% positive rating from the website’s users. Reviews credited Romulus for being reverent towards the Alien franchise’s best movies while still introducing new ideas into the long-running series.
Ridley Scott, who directed the first Alien, was also a fan of Romulus, at least according to Romulus director Fede Álvarez. “He was in the theater, and I wanted to see him right away,” Álvarez said in 2024. “I really wanted to get his fresh reaction out of the film and what he felt. I went to see him, sat down, waited on the table, I had a notepad and a pen next to me just waiting just to hear whatever he had to say to write it down. I remember what his first reaction was: he walked in, and he said, ‘What can I say? It’s f***ing great.’ And then he said, ‘You have a big movie here.'”
Álvarez directed Alien: Romulus from a screenplay he co-wrote with Rodo Sayagues. The sci-fi horror stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu.
Will Alien: Romulus Get a Sequel?
Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Alien: Romulus was successful enough that Disney began developing a sequel. Álvarez won’t direct Alien: Romulus 2 but did write the script himself for a specific reason tied to Alien 3.
“I don’t think I was ever going to [direct Romulus 2]. We always knew right when we finished – this is one of those things where you come in, and you do one, and get out. [James] Cameron, [David] Fincher … all those directors I love, they went and did one. Obviously, Ridley [Scott] created it; he has the right to make a bunch of them,” Álvarez said at the HorrorHound Weekend in February 2025.
He 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 [in Alien 3]. 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.”
However, development on Alien: Romulus 2 has stalled, and the project is reportedly “indefinitely shelved and might not ever happen.” This occurred after Michael Sarnoski, who was attached to direct, dropped out of the movie. Instead, Disney is moving ahead with a new Alien movie produced by Ridley Scott, the long-awaited sequel to 2017’s Alien: Covenant.
Alien: Romulus comes to Peacock on Nov. 2.
Release Date
August 16, 2024
Runtime
119 Minutes
Director
Fede Alvarez
