Over the past two years, Alien fans haven’t wanted for Xenomorph action. 2024 saw the Ridley Scott-created sci-fi horror franchise return to the big screen for the first time in seven years with Alien: Romulus, a new, standalone film helmed by The Evil Dead remake helmer Fede Álvarez. Just one year later, FX followed up on the small screen with Noah Hawley‘s excellent Alien: Earth, which brings the universe’s greatest threat directly to the blue planet. Their respective successes also earned both of them follow-ups, but while the latter has been gathering steam, even adding Peter Dinklage as a new star for Season 2, it hasn’t been as smooth sailing for the former.
A Romulus sequel was in the works right away in late 2024 after the Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson-led affair raked in $350 million globally at the box office and earned the best reviews for the franchise in years. Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues quickly penned a script that would take the series to new places, with survivors Rain (Spaeny) and Andy (Jonsson) both likely returning. However, everything ground to a halt after the director, despite initially hoping to return and begin filming last year, departed the project back in September and vowed to help find his replacement at the helm. He’s still on board as a producer, but it was undoubtedly a big momentum killer after he seemed poised to be the next figurehead breathing new life into Alien. Since then, we still haven’t learned much about the follow-up or who will be taking the reins, and, from the sound of it, most of the cast and crew haven’t either.
In an interview with Collider’s Perri Nemirofffor his upcoming new film Wasteman with Tom Blyth, Jonsson could only offer more of the same after similarly not having much to say at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Hey, Perri, you know I absolutely adore you,” he said. “I think you’re brilliant, but whatever it is and whenever it happens, I can’t quite say.” When asked about the franchise as a whole, though, he did take an opportunity to celebrate what has been accomplished with both Romulus and Earth in the years since Scott first had viewers screaming with his 1979 classic. Romulus was a breath of fresh air for audiences, turning the attention towards a younger, less experienced group of space colonizers coming face to face with the Xenomorphs for the first time. Whatever happens with its sequel and with Andy, Jonsson is excited about the world of possibilities that has since opened up in the aftermath of that return to form.
“Well, because it’s a world with brilliant characters. It’s a world that is thrilling on camera, thrilling on screen, and in my opinion, and I say this having done Romulus, which is a project that I’m really proud of, Cailee [Spaeny]’s really proud of, and everyone who worked on it is really proud of, is that those projects that help reinvent what cinema is and what it can be are the ones I always want to be involved in, and I think that this is one. With us being a predominantly younger cast, it’s completely changed what the Alien universe was, and opened up the possibility for what it could be. I think that that’s quite exciting. I think that that’s what Earth did, as well, and ours.”
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
What Is Jonsson’s New Film ‘Wasteman’ About?
Beyond Romulus, Jonsson’s star has been rising quickly in Hollywood, as he also recently co-starred in Francis Lawrence‘s acclaimed adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Long Walk. Wastemanwill be another dramatic affair for the star as he plays Taylor, a man nearing the end of his prison sentence. Having already served 13 years, his hard work as a cook is about to pay off as he’s nearing release on good behavior. However, his chance at freedom and the opportunity to see the son he’s never met are put in jeopardy by his new cellmate, Dee (Blyth), who isn’t just a drug dealer but is hell-bent on controlling the entire illicit drug trade within the facility. Directed by Cal McMau from a screenplay by Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran, it’ll follow Taylor’s desperate struggle as a man with everything left to lose tied to another who is all too ready to risk what little he has left.
Wasteman premiered at TIFF last year to widespread acclaim and has only continued to wow critics with its release in the U.K. earlier this year through Lionsgate. It currently holds a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with praise for both the intensity of the film and the chemistry between the two leads. Corin Silva, Alex Hassell, Neil Linpow, Layton Blake, Paul Hilton, and more round out the cast.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more updates on the next Alien movie. In the meantime, Wasteman will hit theaters in the U.S. this Friday, April 17.
