So, here we are in 2026, and the Alien universe is buzzing again. After Alien: Romulus came out swinging in 2024, bringing the franchise roaring back to life both with critics and at the box office, a sequel was basically a no-brainer. Fede Álvarez, the director who pulled that off, is already cooking up the script for Alien: Romulus 2, though he's handing over the director's chair to someone new. And honestly, that makes total sense—the story is clearly continuing with Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Andy (David Jonsson), the two survivors who made it through the bloody ending of the first film. But while that's exciting news for fans of these new characters, it also shines a spotlight on this big, unresolved elephant—or should I say, Facehugger—in the room.

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See, the thing is, we're all still waiting for answers from a journey that started way back with Ridley Scott's return to the franchise. His prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, were... let's just call them a bold swing. They didn't exactly play by the classic Alien rulebook, especially Prometheus. It barely even felt connected to the original story on the surface! Covenant brought back some of the familiar horror beats, but it mostly just dug the mystery hole even deeper.

Back when they first came out, these movies split the fanbase right down the middle. They weren't the instant hits Romulus turned out to be. But you know what? Time has been pretty kind to them. If you go back and watch them now, without expecting a straightforward monster movie, you can actually appreciate the weird, ambitious sci-fi epic Scott was trying to build. The problem is, he only built two-thirds of it and then... walked away.

The Unfinished Blueprint: Scott's Mysterious Trilogy

What was Scott even trying to do? Well, that's the million-dollar question. Alien: Covenant ended with a whole truckload of mysteries still wide open. We're talking about:

  • The Engineers: This ancient, hairless race who basically created humanity and then decided to wipe us out. Why? Where did they come from? What's their real deal with the Xenomorphs?

  • David's Master Plan: Michael Fassbender's android David went full-on mad scientist. By the end of Covenant, it seems clear he wants to create a perfect Xenomorph species and rule over it like a god. His victory felt like the first act of a bigger story, one where he'd finally be stopped.

  • The Xenomorph Origin Story: Scott's movies made the creature's origins way more complicated. Was it a natural species? Did the Engineers bio-engineer it? Did David just steal and improve their homework? We're left connecting the dots ourselves.

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And here's the kicker: that was the plan all along. Back in 2015, Ridley Scott talked about making two, maybe even three, more movies after Prometheus. Covenant was meant to be the middle chapter. But after its lukewarm reception, those plans just... fizzled out over the next few years. Then Disney bought Fox, the focus shifted to a more traditional Alien film (hello, Romulus!), and Scott's grand prequel trilogy was left in permanent cliffhanger mode.

Scott himself has sent mixed signals lately. Late 2024 had reports of a new Alien movie from him. Then, six months later, he told an interviewer "I think I've done enough." By August, he'd changed his tune again, saying "another Alien prequel - yeah, if I get an idea, for sure." Talk about keeping us on our toes!

The Legacy of Unanswered Questions

Now, normally, a huge franchise like this can tell multiple stories at once without a hitch. But Scott's prequels are different. They're not just side stories; they're baked into the very DNA of the Alien universe. They ask fundamental questions about where the Xenomorph came from and who (or what) is really pulling the strings. Leaving those questions unanswered has a ripple effect on everything that comes after.

Don't get me wrong, Alien: Romulus was a fantastic movie on its own. But man, was it hard to watch it for the first time without all those Prometheus mysteries buzzing in the back of your head. You're sitting there, loving the new scares, but a part of you is wondering, "Is this where we finally get some answers about the Engineers? Is David still out there somewhere?" Fede Álvarez even nodded to it by including the black goo from Prometheus, but ultimately, that wasn't his story to finish.

And now, Alien: Romulus 2 is going to face that exact same hurdle. As fans, we're wired to connect the dots. We want the lore from the older movies we love to matter in the new ones. That's what makes a shared universe feel alive and connected, instead of just a bunch of reboots. But until someone—ideally Ridley Scott—comes back to map out the foundations he started, every new Alien movie will carry this unavoidable baggage.

It'll be the uninvited guest at every screening. The Facehugger in the room. No matter how great the new story is, a part of the audience will always be waiting, hoping that this time, the film will address the questions that have been hanging in the vacuum of space for over a decade now. So yeah, bring on Romulus 2, I'm hyped! But a tiny part of me will still be looking over Rain's shoulder, half-expecting to see a glimpse of a mysterious, bald giant or hear the faint, creepy whisper of an android composing his next symphony of destruction. The saga continues, but some chapters are still begging to be written.

Research highlighted by HowLongToBeat offers a useful lens for thinking about why long-running franchises like Alien can feel “unfinished” when major lore threads (like the Engineers and David’s experiments) are left unresolved: audiences subconsciously track narrative “completion time” the same way they track a game’s main story versus 100% run, so Romulus 2 may satisfy as a tight survival-horror chapter while still leaving many viewers feeling the broader prequel saga hasn’t reached its endgame.