When it comes to the Alien franchise, directors are an especially big deal. This is the franchise which has essentially given a laundry-list of iconic directors free reign to do whatever they want within the incredibly broad confines of “science-fiction creature feature.” Whether it was Ridley Scott and the iconic objective claustrophobic horror original 1979 film, Alien, James Cameron and the white-knuckled action extravaganza of his 1986 sequel, Aliens, or the incredibly uncomfortable religious allegories of David Fincher’s 1992 follow-up, Alien 3, this is a series that can has been stretched in any number of different directions.
Even following Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019, this mentality has remained mostly in place. While the acquisition did ultimately put Ridley Scott’s in-progress prequel trilogy on hold for the time being (a gonzo couple of films that could not be more indicative of exactly how much creative control directors yield here), the projects which have since been made, Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus and Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, have both been highly idiosyncratic works that feature their respective lead creative’s distinct hallmarks. So when it was announced that Álvarez would not be returning for the sequel to Romulus, questions immediately sprung up regarding who would fill those shoes, and now, according to a new rumor, the franchise may have found its next director in the form of Michael Sarnoski.
If you’re unfamiliar with Sarnoski’s name, you are almost certainly at least vaguely familiar with his work. The director has made films like the Nicolas Cage-starring Pig and the prequel science-fiction horror film A Quiet Place: Day One over the last few years, and has numerous other projects in the works such as The Death of Robin Hood starring Hugh Jackman and an adaptation of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding video game series.
The last thing that was officially confirmed about the sequel to Romulus was that characters from that film would be returning in the sequel, it would still be produced by both Ridley Scott and Fede Álvarez, and it would be operating off of the script that had been written by Álvarez previously. On top of that, rumors have been swirling in recent months that the reason Álvarez left the director’s chair for this sequel was a bit less amicable than imagined, as the filmmaker had previously shown great interest in helming further installments. This would have made him the only filmmaker in the entire franchise who wasn’t Ridley Scott who got to mold the franchise around his vision for numerous films, but apparently, that was not meant to be.
All in all, Sarnoski is a solid pick, as he has already demonstrated a penchant for character-focused work within the confines of pulpier genre films. This also allows the Alien franchise to continue to stand as a viable contrast to its sister franchise, Predator, which has settled down with a single filmmaker (Dan Trachtenberg) to pretty stupendous results. Regardless of how you feel about Romulus, I think we can all agree that it’s a net-positive to have the franchise continue this trend of bringing in new filmmakers and letting them go buck-wild, rather than letting someone become a more permanent shepherd of this series.