Alien: Romulus is right around the corner, and it's safe to say excitement is at a fever pitch. Following the success of Prey on Hulu and Disney+ in 2022, 20th Century Studios bumped the latest Alien film to a theatrical release rather than immediately hitting streaming – and they've got genre icon Fede Álvarez at the helm.
To take on an Alien film is no small task, with it being one of the most beloved sci-fi and horror franchises of all time, boasting numerous spin-offs, adaptations, and, of course, merchandise (some more unhinged than others). Since first hitting our screens in 1979, the Sigourney Weaver-led films have grossed more than $1 billion combined and inspired a generation of film fans – not least because of Ellen Ripley's iconic lines. But the daunting idea of making an Alien film won't be, ahem, alien to Álvarez, making both an Evil Dead and a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film.
The seventh film in the Alien franchise – discounting the two Alien vs Predator films – has the seal of approval from Ridley Scott and James Cameron, who directed Alien and Aliens respectively. Speaking at the DGA Latino Summit 2023 (per Variety), he confirmed he received notes from both film icons and that Scott called it ‘f**king great' – what better praise could he receive?
But fans are still yet to give their final verdict with Alien: Romulus set to hit theaters in a matter of days. While we wait to board the derelict spacecraft, here's everything you need to know, from trailer analysis to cast, crew, release date, and plot theories.
Trailer Breakdown
After a teaser trailer was released earlier this year, giving fans a glimpse into the horror that unfolds on the Romulus, a full trailer dropped two months ago followed by an extended, final trailer mere weeks ago to share a few more details. It utilizes many of the foreboding, dread-inducing scenes we had seen previously, with a few new additions. We first get to meet Cailee Spaeny's Rain Carradine, leader of the scavenger crew set to visit Romulus, as she asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
As the crew blasts into space, the booming, tense music kicks in, and we learn Rain's crew is set to break into the Romulus to steal “highly regulated equipment.” The group — including David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu — think they will be in and out in 30 minutes, but of course, their plan goes awry when they come face-to-face with the extraterrestrials on board the Romulus. Facehuggers soon burst from red pods to wreak havoc upon the intruders, with us getting our first taste of pure horror as a creature pulls Tyler (Archie Renaux) underneath the water before another flies through the air toward Bjorn (Spike Fearn).
Andy (David Jonsson) coldly utters “Run” before the trailer dissolves into sheer chaos with fast cuts, crew running through Nostromo-inspired dim corridors, and a gruesome close-up of a Facehugger being removed from deep inside someone's throat. The trailer states, “fear is bigger,” and that certainly seems the case as we get a quick glimpse of a full-sized Xenomorph drone and a wonderfully gory Chestburster exploding from Navarro's torso. We see Rain floating through the ship surrounded by blobs of acidic blood, and an explosive end culminating in plenty of fire and screaming. All in all — we're hyped.
There are a few Easter eggs for fans of the franchise to enjoy, as the crew takes up arms to fight the aliens by grabbing early incarnations of a pulse rifle, (which see in Alien). We also see the return of the blue mist in a brief scene, harking back to the mysterious derelict LV-426. Earlier trailers saw a Weyland-Yutani symbol on a door, the conglomerate corporation that has frequently tried to recover a live Xenomorph to use as a bioweapon. And as mysterious bars on the screen form the film's title, we can't help but be reminded of Alien's unforgettable opening title sequence.
What is the plot of Alien: Romulus?
Alien: Romulus is set in the 57-year gap between Alien and its sequel Aliens. This also means it takes place before the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection and after the events of prequel films Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
The official logline reads: “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”
The trailer informs us that Rain's crew will be boarding the Romulus in an attempt to steal “highly regulated equipment” – but what exactly this cargo is remains a mystery. What we do know is that Alien: Romulus is a standalone story in the Alien franchise, and is thus a fresh story in the timeline that likely won't draw on plot points from previous series entries.
Álvarez also shared some information in an interview with Total Film about the Romulus spaceship when breaking down the first full trailer, revealing that there has been some “experimentation going on in the station.” He continued: “The environments, and the pace of it as well – it's more similar to Alien for quite a bit. And then gradually – you won't even know – you feel like it's more Aliens. It's a natural progression, and it happens effortlessly.”
The title itself is a reference to the tale of Romulus and Remus, Romulus being the founder and first king of Rome. In mythology, Romulus killed his twin Remus which saw the surviving brother rise to lead the Roman Kingdom. Álvarez has said that the film is “about siblinghood” and a lot of the characters' stories are “related to siblinghood.”
Speaking to NME, he shared a little more about which characters in the film are related and how it affects the narrative: “There's a very deep and meaningful relationship part of the story. There are two surrogate siblings, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Andy (David Jonsson). Andy is a synthetic [android]. He's been with Rain all her life. He's like an older brother. Some people around them frown upon that because they're like: ‘Come on, he's an android.' But that opens the door to a very unique concept.”
When is it released in theaters?
Alien: Romulus will be released in theaters worldwide on August 16.
The film was originally scheduled to be released on Hulu but was switched to a theatrical release shortly before filming began.
Who is in the cast?
Though Sigourney Weaver won't be returning to her iconic role, we do have a new ass-kicking leading lady set to take on the Xenomorphs. Priscilla star Cailee Spaeny will take on the role of Rain Carradine, with the actor drawing inspiration from the OG Ripley for her performance. She said during a press conference (per Motion Pictures): “What was so great about what Sigourney did, it was incredible; it holds such an iconic space in cinematic history.”
Her crew is made up of Industry star David Jonsson as Andy, Morbius' Archie Renaux as Tyler, The Batman and Aftersun actor Spike Fearn as Bjorn, Transformers: The Last Knight star Isabela Merced as Kay, and Away from Home's Aileen Wu as Navarro. Álvarez is not only directing, he also wrote the script alongside longtime collaborator Rodo Sayagues, who he worked with on Don't Breathe and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Alien alum Scott and Michael Pruss serve as producers.
The cast of the film is decidedly younger than previous Alien films, and the choice was an intentional one on Álvarez's part inspired by a deleted scene from Aliens that was eventually restored in his extended special edition cut. “There's a moment where you see a bunch of kids running [and riding a big wheel] around the corridors of this colony. And I thought, ‘Wow, what would it be like for those kids to grow up in a colony that still needs another 50 years to terraform?'” the director told The Hollywood Reporter. “So I remember thinking, ‘If I ever tell a story in that world, I would definitely be interested in those kids when they reach their early twenties.'”
How Fede Álvarez entered the Alien franchise
Unless you've been living under a rock, you don't need us to tell you who Fede Álvarez is. After beginning his career in short films in the early 2000s, the Uruguayan filmmaker went straight for horror gold as he remade the classic film The Evil Dead. Released in 2013, Evil Dead received acclaim from fans and critics alike, becoming an instant classic thanks to its brutal gore, sinister scares, and bleak narrative told through fully realized characters.
In 2016, he reached further heights when he released Don't Breathe, which follows a group of teenagers who break into the home of a blind Gulf War veteran, Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang), and soon get more than they bargained for when he hunts them around the property. A sequel followed in 2021, before he returned to the world of rebooting horror franchises the following year with his The Texas Chainsaw Massacre script (directed by David Blue Garcia and co-written with Sayagues and Chris Thomas Devlin).
Álvarez's Alien film has been a labor of love, with the director reportedly coming up with his idea for the film many years ago before taking it to Ridley Scott. In 2021, he formally proposed the film to Scott and not long after, 20th Century Studios decided to move forward with the pitch. Alien's Steve Asbell shared (per Space.com) that Álvarez's Romulus pitch was “just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven't seen before.”
His vision for the film was to introduce the Alien franchise to new viewers while also encapsulating everything existing fans already adore. When creating Romulus, he wanted to create a world that felt real, something he thinks modern blockbusters have lost. He told NME: “The big tentpole movies, they don't try to be realistic. Some do, Dune, I would say probably tried… The Lord Of The Rings did too and that's why it looks so f**king real. The Hobbit was a bit more digital and lost some of that magic.
“Even the [studios] that do big visual effects maybe don't have the time, the resources they had before so things get rushed. For us on Alien: Romulus, we kept putting pressure on them to make everything look as realistic as it could.”
Creating Alien: Romulus
Principal photography took place in Budapest, Hungary at Origo Studios. The film was shot in chronological order, beginning in March 2023 and wrapped by July. Once again, Álvarez has gone down the practical effects route for the majority of the film to make its blood and guts feel as true to life as possible.
To achieve that, he brought in the practical effects crew from Aliens, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “They were in their early twenties when they made Aliens, and they were a part of Stan Winston's [special effects] team. And now we had them at the top of their game. They have their own shops, and so we brought them all together to work on all the creatures because we went with all animatronics and puppets at every level. I even got the chance to be under the table with them, puppeteering all these animatronics… When it comes to face-to-face encounters and moments with creatures, nothing beats the real thing.”
Álvarez and the team went to “crazy extents” to do as much of the film as they could practically, using full animatronics for all of the creatures in the movie. “It was one of the best experiences in my career, just to see these guys that I admire so much back,” he told Total Film. “There were moments when we'd need nine puppeteers to make a creature work, and you had all those guys, now in their 60s, under the table. And I'm there with them because there's not enough hands. I got to be under the table, puppeteering these things, with the guys that worked on the original Aliens. So that's been the best part.”
Conclusion
As the seventh Alien film, there's a lot riding on Alien: Romulus for fans. But if early reactions are anything to go by, Álvarez's practical effects-laden gore extravaganza delivers tension and scares in droves – and really, what did we expect from the man who brought us Evil Dead?
The standalone film in the franchise aims to take Alien in a new direction while still utilizing the elements fans (and its very own director) loved so much in the first place. It draws inspiration from the original Alien films while telling a fresh new story focusing on siblinghood and the lengths humans will go to survive in perilous situations. It's a theme that resonates throughout Álvarez's acclaimed body of work, so it stands to reason he's perfected examining the human condition — with a few more Facehuggers thrown in.
The trailers alone have many fans purchasing tickets for their local theater showings the moment they went on sale, with scenes depicting some of the bloody kills, explosive action sequences, and lingering shots of dread we get to enjoy. Hell, it's even approved by Cameron and Scott. What more could we ask for?
