{"id":670725,"date":"2026-10-31T09:14:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/670725\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T09:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:14:18","slug":"peacock-officially-lands-disneys-350m-sci-fi-thriller-sequel-that-revived-a-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/670725\/","title":{"rendered":"Peacock Officially Lands Disney&#8217;s $350M Sci-Fi Thriller Sequel That Revived a Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Peacock just landed one of the biggest sci-fi comeback stories of the 21st century. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/tag\/alien-romulus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alien: Romulus<\/a> will begin streaming on Peacock on Nov. 26.<\/p>\n<p>Alien: Romulus is the first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/alien-franchise-movie-rankings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alien movie<\/a> produced by Disney, which acquired the franchise&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>                        What Is Alien: Romulus About?<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"928\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cailee Spaeny surrounded by smoke in Alien Romulus\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/cailee-spaeny-surrounded-by-smoke-in-alien-romulus.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/cailee-spaeny-surrounded-by-smoke-in-alien-romulus.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n        Cailee Spaeny surrounded by smoke in Alien RomulusImage via\u00a0Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<p>Alien: Romulus is set between the original Alien movie and its first sequel, Aliens\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b. However, while it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/romulus-alien-timeline-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">touches on some dangling Alien plot threads<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/alien-romulus-rotten-tomatoes-score\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Alien: Romulus was a critical hit<\/a>, earning a &#8220;certified fresh&#8221; Rotten Tomatoes score of 80% positive, and an 88% positive rating from the website&#8217;s users. Reviews credited Romulus for being reverent towards the Alien franchise&#8217;s best movies while still introducing new ideas into the long-running series.<\/p>\n<p>Ridley Scott, who directed the first Alien, was also a fan of Romulus, at least according to Romulus director Fede \u00c1lvarez. &#8220;He was in the theater, and I wanted to see him right away,&#8221; \u00c1lvarez said in 2024. &#8220;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, &#8216;What can I say? It\u2019s f***ing great.&#8217; And then he said, &#8216;You have a big movie here.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u00c1lvarez 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.<\/p>\n<p>                        Will Alien: Romulus Get a Sequel?<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"928\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Archie Renaux and Cailee Spaeny train with a weapon in Alien Romulus\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/archie-renaux-and-cailee-spaeny-train-with-a-weapon-in-alien-romulus.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/archie-renaux-and-cailee-spaeny-train-with-a-weapon-in-alien-romulus.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n        Image via\u00a0Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<p>Alien: Romulus was successful enough that Disney began developing a sequel. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/alien-romulus-sequel-michael-sarnoski\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">\u00c1lvarez won&#8217;t direct Alien: Romulus 2<\/a> but did write the script himself for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/alien-romulus-sequel-writing-return-reason-fede-alvarez\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a specific reason tied to Alien 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I was ever going to [direct Romulus 2]. We always knew right when we finished \u2013 this is one of those things where you come in, and you do one, and get out. [James] Cameron, [David] Fincher \u2026 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,&#8221; \u00c1lvarez said at the HorrorHound Weekend in February 2025.<\/p>\n<p>He continued, &#8220;We did want to write it. Honestly, it\u2019s 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\u2019s not let that happen. We wrote it and made sure they stayed alive, and now we can let someone else make it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, development on Alien: Romulus 2 has stalled, and the project is reportedly &#8220;indefinitely shelved and might not ever happen.&#8221; This occurred after Michael Sarnoski, who was attached to direct, dropped out of the movie. Instead, Disney is moving ahead with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbr.com\/new-alien-movie-ridley-scott-return-prometheus-covenant-sequel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a new Alien movie produced by Ridley Scott<\/a>, the long-awaited sequel to 2017&#8217;s Alien: Covenant.<\/p>\n<p>Alien: Romulus comes to Peacock on Nov. 2.<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"960\" height=\"1422\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"alien-romulus-poster-showing-a-facehugger-attacking-a-human.jpeg\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/alien-romulus-poster-showing-a-facehugger-attacking-a-human.jpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/alien-romulus-poster-showing-a-facehugger-attacking-a-human.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Release Date<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAugust 16, 2024<\/p>\n<p>                                            Runtime<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t119 Minutes<\/p>\n<p>                                            Director<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFede Alvarez<\/p>\n<p>                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"instar53613621.jpg\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/instar53613621.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/instar53613621.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                                                                <img width=\"100\" height=\"130\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"instar54240992.jpg\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/instar54240992.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/instar54240992.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peacock just landed one of the biggest sci-fi comeback stories of the 21st century. Alien: Romulus will begin&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-670725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}