Ridley Scott blocked Fassbender's David from Romulus because he is saving him for himself

It’s been a solid two years since Alien: Romulus crash-landed in cinemas, pumping some long-overdue adrenaline back into the sci-fi horror juggernaut. You’d think, after a worldwide gross of $350 million and a tidy 80% on Rotten Tomatoes – miles ahead of Alien: Covenant – we'd have some firm news of a follow-up by now. Not the case. The franchise’s future is once again in the hands of Ridley Scott, and, well, things are getting a bit tangled behind the scenes.

Alien: Romulus was released more than two years ago and earned $350 million globally.

Scott’s Plan: Back to David, Not Romulus

Here’s where it starts to get a bit messy. Fede Álvarez, the director who actually got Alien back on its feet with Romulus (the one with Evil Dead on his CV), is no longer in the director’s chair. He’s apparently tinkering with a script for a sequel and will still float about as a producer, but he’s not coming back to direct. There’s a persistent rumour that Álvarez and Scott didn’t exactly see eye to eye during shooting, which might explain a lot, though nobody’s been brave enough to spell it out on the record.

The real twist is Ridley Scott’s latest move. Speaking to the French outlet AlloCiné, Scott confirmed he’s swinging back into the driving seat to finish off the prequel trilogy he started with Prometheus and continued with Alien: Covenant – basically, leaping right over the top of wherever Romulus was headed. And his focus is squarely on Michael Fassbender’s charmingly deranged android, David.

According to 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell, rumours of the Romulus sequel getting quietly axed aren’t accurate. It’s technically ‘still happening’ in some parallel universe. But with Scott now pushing full steam ahead on his own project and ignoring the events of Romulus, it’s perfectly clear why that sequel is stuck in limbo.

Scott’s Not-So-Subtle Take on Romulus

Scott never does faint praise, and he didn’t hold back when talking about the film Fede Álvarez had just delivered. Here’s how he called it in his interview (and honestly, it’s about as lukewarm as it gets):

Speaking with AlloCiné, Ridley Scott said, 'The one that just came out [2024’s Alien: Romulus] was OK. I think it needs some help. So, I’ve gone back in. I’ve already got a footprint for the next Alien. We did Prometheus, and then Alien: Covenant. So, I’m picking up where we left off in Covenant with Michael Fassbender, who now thinks he’s Ozymandias.'

It’s not lost on anyone that Scott sees Romulus as a detour rather than the new path forward, and he’s keen to steer the series back to his own AI-doomsday musings. Fede Álvarez, for what it’s worth, apparently wanted to bring David (Fassbender) into the Romulus story, but Scott outright blocked it – saving his favourite android for a grand finale in his own film. Bit territorial, that.

On where he wants to take David, Scott got a bit philosophical (and slightly apocalyptic):

Scott continued, 'I like the fact that AI has gone off the rails. If we go AI, the moment we discover it’s off the rails is too late. It could switch every digital thing off in the world like that. You’d have f***ing chaos. It’s that kind of stuff that’s scary.'

Cast, Canon, and Everything Else That’s Murky

Romulus itself tried to pay tribute to the earlier prequel films with a few sly references, weaving Prometheus and Covenant into its own continuity. But it’s clear now that those nods didn’t amount to a genuine narrative bridge – especially since Michael Fassbender’s David was specifically kept out by Scott. The cast of Romulus itself saw David Johnson (seemingly in every blockbuster at the minute, now off to Black Panther III) and Cailee Spaeny (reportedly in the running for X-Men) leading a pack of young colonists who wind up stuck in a derelict space station, facing the galaxy’s worst nightmare, as per tradition.

• Fede Álvarez (director of Romulus) is not returning to direct the sequel, though he’ll still produce.
• Ridley Scott is moving forward with his own Alien film, set after Covenant, with Fassbender’s David front and centre.
• Studio boss Steve Asbell insists the Romulus sequel ‘hasn’t been cancelled’, but there’s no timeline to speak of.
• Rumours continue about creative disagreements on Romulus, especially regarding bringing back David as a character.

The current landscape means the next Alien film on deck is Scott’s, not a direct follow-up to Romulus. With Scott’s prequel films being divisive, and his latest foray with The Dog Stars landing with a bit of a thud, it’s hard not to wonder if this collision of old and new directions is really what the Alien franchise needs right now.