20 Upcoming Horror Movies That Could Save Franchises

Though the Alien franchise has been all over the map quality-wise, in recent years it's certainly scored some much-needed wins with the hit film Alien: Romulus and last year's TV series Alien: Earth.

As successful as Alien: Romulus was, it also proved extremely reliant on fan service callbacks to the series' original two entries, which a franchise can only dine out on for so long. And so, there's hope that the planned sequel to Romulus will dial back the navel-gazing and focus on telling its own fresh story within the Alien universe.

While Romulus filmmaker Fede Álvarez has penned the sequel's script, recent reports indicate he's being replaced in the director's chair by Michael Sarnoski - one of the hottest rising directors working today off the back of Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One, and his soon-to-release The Death of Robin Hood.

Sarnoski doesn't seem like a director who would be especially interested in helming another fan service sequel, and considering he's written all three of his movies to date, it's entirely possible he ends up rewriting Álvarez's script anyway.

Above all else, Sarnoski is exactly the sort of bold, visionary figure the Alien franchise should be courting if it wants to remain unique and relevant rather than give in to IP slop-ification.