A new Alien movie is in development at 20th Century Studios, with Aaron Guzikowski hired to write the script. The Hollywood Reporter first reported the project, and Deadline confirmed the hiring, describing the film as a fresh entry in the long running science fiction series rather than a direct follow up to Alien: Romulus.
Ridley Scott, who directed the original Alien in 1979, is producing the new Alien movie through Scott Free, his production company. The studio has not announced a director, a cast, or a release date, and plot details remain under wraps. The hiring of a writer is the first concrete step toward production, and it signals that the studio plans to keep the franchise active after the commercial success of the 2024 film Alien: Romulus.
What is known about the new Alien movie
Guzikowski is best known for writing the 2013 thriller Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve, and for creating the HBO Max science fiction series Raised by Wolves, which Scott executive produced. His background in tense, character driven genre stories fits the Alien series, which has always mixed horror with science fiction. Reports stressed that the new Alien movie is not being developed as a sequel to Romulus, the film directed by Fede Alvarez that returned the series to its horror roots.
The distinction matters for fans. Alien: Romulus followed a group of young space colonists who scavenged a derelict station and met the franchise’s lethal creature. A sequel to that film had been discussed after its release. The Guzikowski project appears to be a separate story within the same universe, though the studio has not said whether it will connect to earlier films or stand alone.
How the Alien movie series reached this point
The Alien series began in 1979 with Scott’s original film, in which the crew of the commercial towing vessel Nostromo answered a distress call and took aboard a deadly organism. James Cameron followed it with Aliens in 1986, David Fincher directed Alien 3 in 1992, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet directed Alien Resurrection in 1997. Scott returned to the series with the prequels Prometheus in 2012 and Alien: Covenant in 2017, which explored the origins of the creature and the android David.
Alien: Romulus, released in 2024, was set between the events of Alien and Aliens and drew praise for its practical effects and claustrophobic tone. Its performance gave 20th Century Studios reason to invest further in the property, and the studio also expanded the franchise to television with the series Alien: Earth. The new Alien movie continues that expansion on the big screen.
The Alien series has stayed in the public eye through games, comics, and a television series as well as films. Alien: Earth, the television series set in the same universe, gave the franchise a second screen presence while the film side regrouped after Romulus. That wider footprint is one reason a new Alien movie carries weight beyond a single release: the studio is managing a property that now spans film and television, and each new entry has to fit a timeline that fans follow closely. Guzikowski’s script will be read against that background, and against the standard set by Scott’s original film, which is still cited as a model for science fiction horror.
What happens next for the Alien movie
With a writer attached, the next steps are a finished script, a director, and casting. Trade reports typically follow each stage, and the studio is not rushing a start date. For now, the confirmed facts are the writer, the producer, and the studio, and the project remains in early development. No start of production has been announced, and trade coverage is expected to follow the script, the director search, and casting in turn, and fans will watch for the first plot details.