'Whalefall' Director Brian Duffield Responds to Alien Prequel Rumors

The last few years have been very good to Alien fans, with some of the best and most horrific installments in the long-running sci-fi franchise taking over the world. No film had captured the magic of Ridley Scott's original and James Cameron's first sequel until Fede Álvarez's box-office hit, Alien: Romulus, widely considered the franchise's best entry since Aliens. If that already wasn't a big enough comeback, things got even better for the franchise with Alien: Earth — Noah Hawley's smash-hit prequel series that finally brought the Xenomorphs to the titular human home world.

The franchise's newfound success hasn't gone unnoticed by Disney and 20th Century Studios, who are doubling down on everything Alien-related across three different mediums. For movies, it didn't take long for a sequel to Alien: Romulus to enter development, although Fede Álvarez will not be returning to the director's chair. For TV, Alien: Earth's colossal success on Disney+ and Hulu quickly greenlit a second season, which is filming now and features a few newcomers like Game of Thrones duo Peter Dinklage and Jerome Flynn. Even video games are getting some love, with one of the franchise's most requested sequels, Alien: Isolation 2, finally becoming a reality.

One project that was rumored to be in development for quite some time is another Alien prequel film. This would be separate from both the Alien: Romulus sequel and Ridley Scott's proposed third chapter in his Prometheus trilogy. Rumors suggested that Brian Duffield, who worked on the sci-fi thriller No One Will Save You, was involved in the new film, but sadly, that's not the case. While promoting his new movie Whalefall at NYCC, Duffield was asked by Collider's Maggie Lovitt if he was involved, and he set the record straight that he is not currently working on a new Alien film:

"I know how the rumor started, but it's not something I'm currently working on. It's funny, I was just talking to the head of 20th about it. I'm not involved, so I'm always trying to get information as a fan, but I'm not directing Alien."

'Whalefall' Is the "Hardest Thing" Brian Duffield Has Ever Worked on

Brian Duffield also said that his new movie Whalefall is without question one of the hardest movies he has ever worked on. Starring Resident Evil star Austin Abrams, which also reunites him with his Weapons co-star Josh Brolin, the film follows a young diver who is swallowed whole by a colossal whale off the coast of California. With a limited amount of oxygen, Jay Gardiner (Abrams) has only a few hours to find a way out of the creature before he dies a slow and painful death.