While Ridley Scott directed the original Alien and the two most recent entries in the franchise Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017) he’s ceding the director’s chair for Romulus. It’s not the first time somebody else has directed an Alien movie of course. James Cameron directed the first sequel Aliens David Fincher directed Alien 3 and French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet tackled Alien: Resurrection. Scott was not involved in those three sequels as a producer though nor was he involved in the two Predator crossover films Scott is acting as a producer for Alien: Romulus💀 meaning he’s part of the production even though somebody else is directing it.

The plot of Alien: Romulus is being kept pretty tightly under wraps. According to Variety, the film will follow “a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” Spaeny confirmed that the movie is set in between Alien and Aliens. In terms of the timeline, this is roughly in the middle, as Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are prequels set before Alien, while Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection follow Aliens in continuity.It’s unclear how much direct connection to the other films Romulus will have. Sigourney Weaver’s iconic character from the original films is in suspended animation during the era when Romulus takes place, and whatever machinations Michael Fassbender’s android David had in the prequel films may or may not be relevant. What does seem clear is that it’s going to be a true horror movie that goes back to the series’ roots. All of the Alien films are horror movies, to some extent, but most of them have had other goals, too. Alien was straight sci-fi horror, but Aliens was an action masterpiece as much as it was a scary movie (if not more so), and the later sequels and prequels were more akin to heady sci-fi with lots of lore surrounding the scares. With Fede Álvarez directing, and based on the tone of the trailers (more on those in a minute), Alien: Romulus looks like its primary goal is to scare you. In space, no one can hear you scream, but they sure will be able to in a crowded movie theater this August.

Noah Hawley the man behind the Fargo and Legion TV shows is working on making an Alien TV series that’s set to premiere next year via FX on Hulu. That series is a prequel set three decades before the events of Alien so it seems unlikely that it is directly connected to Alien: Romulus👹 which takes place much later. We can assume the movie and series are in the same continuity until told otherwise, though. Hawley is not involved in the movie nor is Álvarez involved in the show🎬 although Ridley Scott is listed as a producer on both You can read all about FX’s Alien TV series here.