New Alien Movie in the Works From Prisoners Writer, With Ridley Scott Producing

A new Alien movie is in the works at 20th Century Studios, with Prisoners screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski writing the script and Ridley Scott producing. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2026, and Deadline and TheWrap confirmed it the same afternoon, describing the project as being in very early development with no director attached.

Image: Ridley Scott at the world premiere of The Martian at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

What we know about the new Alien movie

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Scott is producing, not directing, alongside Michael Pruss through their company Scott Free. J.R. Young is overseeing the film for 20th Century Studios. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but THR reported that the project is not a sequel to Alien: Romulus, the 2024 film that reinvigorated the franchise. A Romulus sequel, THR said, remains in limbo.

Instead, the new film is said to be connected to the two Alien prequels Scott directed in the 2010s, Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). The link, according to THR’s sources, is the amoral android played by Michael Fassbender in those films. Fassbender is not attached to the new project at this stage, the outlet reported. Deadline, for its part, said it is not yet known whether the film would follow up Romulus, underscoring how early the project is.

Who is Aaron Guzikowski?

Guzikowski is best known for writing Prisoners, Warner Bros.’ 2013 crime thriller and Denis Villeneuve’s English-language debut, which starred Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. He also wrote the remake of Papillon starring Rami Malek and Charlie Hunnam, and created the Sundance Channel series The Red Road with Jason Momoa, according to THR.

The Alien job is a reunion. Guzikowski created Raised by Wolves, the HBO Max science-fiction series about two androids raising human children after Earth is destroyed in a great war. Scott executive produced the show and directed its first two episodes, his first TV directing work since he began making movies in the 1970s, THR reported. The series aired for two seasons. Sources told THR that Scott turned to Guzikowski specifically to jumpstart the new Alien project.

The writer has a full slate. TheWrap reported he is also writing an original sci-fi film for director Jon Watts at 20th Century, adapting a Philip K. Dick short story for Sony Pictures, and writing an adult-targeted animated film based on Hideo Kojima’s video game Death Stranding.

Where the Alien franchise stands

The Alien series began with Scott’s 1979 science-fiction horror film, in which the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo is hunted by a deadly creature. Over nearly five decades the franchise has passed through several directors and timelines. Its most recent theatrical entry, Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, grossed more than $350 million worldwide, according to Deadline.

Scott’s prequels took the series in a more philosophical direction, focusing on the origins of the creature and on Fassbender’s android, whose ambitions drive much of the story. Romulus, set between the 1979 original and its 1986 sequel Aliens, returned to a leaner survival-horror style. A new film tied to the prequels suggests 20th Century is willing to return to that darker, idea-driven corner of the franchise.

Why the news lands this week

The announcement arrived the same week fans said goodbye to one of the original film’s stars. Tom Skerritt, who played Capt. Dallas, the Nostromo’s commander, in the 1979 film, died at 93; read our tribute, Tom Skerritt dies at 93: Alien and Top Gun actor remembered. For many viewers, the news of a new chapter came alongside renewed interest in where the series began.

It also fits a broader Hollywood pattern of studios leaning on established franchises. Recent weeks have brought a Narnia trailer that topped 481 million views and a video game adaptation that won the box office, as covered in our report on Street Fighter winning the weekend.

What comes next

With no director, cast or release date, the new Alien movie is years away from theaters at the earliest. The next steps to watch are a finished script, a director hire and any word on whether Fassbender returns. Until then, 20th Century and Scott Free have not publicly shared plot details, and the studio has not announced a title.

Sources

• The Hollywood Reporter: New ‘Alien’ movie in the works with writer Aaron Guzikowski
• Deadline: Aaron Guzikowski tapped to pen new ‘Alien’ movie for 20th, Scott Free
• TheWrap: New ‘Alien’ movie in the works from ‘Prisoners’ writer Aaron Guzikowski
• Wikimedia Commons: ‘The Martian’ world premiere, photo by NASA/Bill Ingalls (public domain)