Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues have completed a script for the sequel to last year’s Alien: Romulus, but Álvarez won’t be in the director’s chair this time around.

“We just finished the script, actually, for a sequel for Romulus, but I’m gonna pass the torch on this one as director,” the filmmaker told TooFab last night on the red carpet at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood.

Álvarez will produce the new installment alongside original Alien director Ridley Scott. They’re currently seeking a new filmmaker to direct.

“I think that’s usually what has happened, except for Ridley, filmmakers come, you make one and you pass the baton to the next one,” Álvarez said. “But we wrote the story because we really love what we started with Romulus and we want to continue the story. We love the story, and now we just want to find a director that really wants to go for the jugular.”

Álvarez plans to helm an original film he wrote with Sayagues. “I want to work on a personal project that me and my co-writer, we’ve been keeping on the back burner for a while and we feel it’s the right time to go and work on an original.” He adds, “But I can’t tell you anything about it.”

Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, who starred in Alien: Romulus as brave colonist Rain Carradine and her synthetic brother Andy, respectively, are expected to reprise their roles in the sequel.

“I think it’ll be so exciting to go with characters you know from this movie, to a place in the Alien franchise that we’ve never been before, and to discover things that you’ve never seen before,” Alvarez previously teased.