20th Century Studios
The film kicks off with a ship owned by Weyland-Yutani, the nefarious corporation at the heart of the franchise, as it flies toward a huge field of debris in space.
As the torch illuminates the wreckage, the light reveals that it’s actually the Nostromo — the ship from the first “Alien” movie.
This establishes the fact that “Alien: Romulus” takes place roughly 20 years after the original film, which saw Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) activate the Nostromo’s self-destruct system in an attempt to kill the Xenomorph. Although the alien escaped into the shuttle with Ripley, she eventually booted it out of the airlock.
The new film establishes that Weyland-Yutani was able to retrieve its body to start running experiments on the creature.
“Alien” takes place in 2122, which puts “Alien: Romulus” in 2142. James Cameron’s sequel “Aliens” is set in 2179.
This makes the 2024 movie an “interquel” since it is both a sequel to the original film and a prequel to Cameron’s follow-up, which was originally released in 1986.
Considering “Alien: Romulus” made $108 million worldwide in its opening weekend, it’s highly likely that the executives at 20th Century Studios and Disney are already considering how to continue the story with a sequel.
Beyond future movie plans, there’s already an “Alien” TV series from “Fargo” creator Noah Hawley in the works. Per Deadline, the show is set toward the end of the 21st century, a few years before the events of “Prometheus.”