Alien: Romulus Starts Shooting in February

After the mixed receptions of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, it seems that the Alien franchise is currently dead in the box office. Good thing that there’s always streaming, and it looks like things are pushing forward for a project called Alien: Romulus.

According to JoBlo, a listing on Film & Television Industry Alliance says that Alien: Romulus is set to start shooting in February with director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead 2013) at the helm. No official description has been revealed for the project, but maybe we can take the Romulus title as a hint.

In mythology, Romulus was said to be the first king and founder of ancient Rome. With that in mind, it’s possible we could be going back to the time of the Engineers, before their society’s fall. Then again, since Romulus is supposed to be a figurehead at the beginning of Rome, we could follow the story of David (Michael Fassbender) as he tries to reshape the world with his perfected xenomorphs.

While I always thought that the Alien franchise was a cinematic one, the last two films have definitely been huge risks for 20^th Century Studio. Now they’re taking a leaf out of Predator’s book where they released the prequel, Prey on Hulu. Who knows, maybe we can have Alien come back to the big screen, but with the option for a streaming premiere, there’s always a chance for riskier projects—which I’m very eager to watch.

No release date has been announced for Alien: Romulus.