Michael Sarnoski is on the short list of potential Alien: Romulus sequel directors

Director Fede Álvarez’s contribution to the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus (you can read our review HERE), was a success – so it was no surprise to hear, just a couple of months after the film’s theatrical release, that 20th Century Studios was working with Álvarez to develop a sequel to the film. All this time, we’ve been expecting Álvarez to direct the follow-up as well, becoming the first director other than Ridley Scott to helm two films in the franchise – but around six months ago, we heard the surprising news that Álvarez will not be directing the sequel, choosing to “pass the torch” instead. Now, it’s being reported that Michael Sarnoski (A Quiet Place: Day One) might end up being the director to replace Álvarez at the helm.

Alien: Romulus

The story Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues crafted for Alien: Romulus slots right in between the events of Alien and Aliens. It has the following official logline: The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. The cast includes Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), Isabela Merced (Madame Web), David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu (Away from Home).

Sequel

The sequel is expected to center on Alien: Romulus survivors Rain (Spaeny) and Andy (Jonsson).

Speaking with Empire last year, Álvarez confirmed that he and Sayagues were working on the script for the Alien: Romulus sequel. He said, “We’re excited about where it can go. We’ve almost checked all of the boxes of things that I want to see [in Romulus], and brought back a lot of the things I hadn’t seen in a while. Wherever we go now, we can go into uncharted waters. I think it’ll be so exciting to go with characters you know from this movie, to a place in the Alien franchise that we’ve never been before, and to discover things that you’ve never seen before.”

Now, Nexus Point News is reporting that Michael Sarnoski is being considered to direct the follow-up, with their sources indicating that Sarnoski is currently the preferred candidate for the job. On the Hot Mic podcast, industry scooper Jeff Sneider of The InSneider confirmed that his sources have also told him that Sarnoski is on the short list of potential directors.

Sneider went on to address a rumor that’s been floating around online: that Álvarez decided to step away from directing the film because David Jonsson doesn’t want to reprise the role of Andy. Rather than the issue coming down to an actor named David, Sneider heard that Álvarez actually wanted to use the David android, who was played by Michael Fassbender in the Ridley Scott-directed films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant story. This supposedly caused friction with Scott, who remains on board all new Alien projects as a producer, who didn’t want him to put David in the movie. And that may be why Álvarez took a step back.

We’ll have to wait and see how this all pans out. In the meantime, let us know: would you like to see Michael Sarnoski get the Alien: Romulus sequel directing job?

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