Alien: Romulus wants everyone to hear you scream over the sci-fi horror series' frightfully bold evolution
‘Moviemaking is all just a big illusion – you have to keep people engaged’
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To say that theAlienfranchise has failed to live up to its vast potential is an understatement. In the 40 years sinceAliens, the critically-acclaimed 1986 sequel to its horrifying 1979 forebearAlien, debuted in theaters, the movie series has floundered more times than its iconic xenomorphs have been jettisoned into the never-ending void of space.
The lack of another critically-acclaimed sequel has not been for a lack of trying.Alien 3, David Fincher’s feature-film directorial debut, andAlien Resurrectiontried to do something different, but bombed at the box office. The abjectAlien vs Predatorcrossover events, which saw the franchise’s biomechanical killing machines battle another classic 80s monster icon, plus more recent entries likePrometheusandAlien: Covenant, haven’t succeeded in revolutionizing the series, either.
Step forward Alien: Romulus, a nostalgia-fueled, standalone entry with a back-to-basics approach
And yet, like the H.R. Giger-designed monstrosities, theAlienfranchise appears to be unkillable, which is good news for horror auteur Fede Álvarez. A diehardAlienfan, the Uruguayan filmmaker is the latest incumbent to try and deliver a much-needed shot in thearmto the flailing film series. Step forwardAlien: Romulus, a nostalgia-fueled, standalone entry with a back-to-basics creative approach that, according to those crucial first critical reactions,might finally give the franchise its first great sequel sinceAliens.
Creating a new chronology
Set 20 years afterAlien, which takes place in the year 2122,Alien: Romulusfollows a group of disenfranchised young adult space colonizers – Rain (Cailee Spaeny), her android brother Andy (David Jonsson), and Rain’s fellow humans Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Navarro (Aileen Wu) – who dream of escaping Jackson’s Star, the mundane mining colony they were born into.
When an opportunity arises to explore The Renaissance, a derelict space station rich in resources that they can sell to fund their permanent departure from Jackson’s Star, the group doesn’t think twice about journeying to the manmade satellite. Little do they know, however, that they’ll soon be fighting to survive against one of the universe’s most frightening and dangerous lifeforms.
Romulus' position on the series' timeline – it’s sandwiched betweenAlienandAliens, i.e. the twobestAlienmovies– raised eyebrows upon its initial unveiling. Some cynical observers claimed that its chronological placement was intentional, with Alvarez and fellow co-writer Rodo Sayagues coyly tapping into fan sentimentality for the aforementioned duo, thereby creating a sense of positivity bias ahead ofRomulus' release.
Stylistically, it was helpful to create a story and design sets that capture a bit of both worlds
For his part, Alvarez readily admits thatRomulus' timeline positioning is deliberate, but not for the reasons suggested by the doubters. Instead, it was not only about the story he and Sayagues wanted to tell, but also the opportunity to build some essential connective tissue between the films thatRomulusis perched between.
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“There’s a certain continuation of the first film that made it natural to happen a couple of decades after [Alien]”, Alvarez tells me after aRomuluspreview event in mid-June. “Stylistically, it was helpful to create a story and design sets that capture a bit of both worlds from those movies.
“You’ll see things that remind you ofAlien, which make sense because Weyland-Yutani’s [the film series' antagonistic mega-corporation] technology won’t have changed much betweenAlienand our film. But, you’ll also see objects or technology that are precursors of what you see inAliens. For instance, the Corbelan [the spaceship that the group use to travel to The Renaissance] is fitted with an atmosphere processor that’s not exactly the same as the one inAliens. It’s an earlier model that’s bulkier and more industrial, so we got to devolve some of the in-universe tech that allows us to straddle the time gap between the first two movies.”
Back to the future
Alien: Romulusis the ninth and most recent addition to franchise that legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott created. Given its timeline placement, and in order to capture the visual essence and practical feel of the series' earlier entries, Alvarez and company went back to the beginning to reproduce the dread-inducing atmosphere, antiquated futuristic sets, and puppet-based xenomorphs that were utilized almost 50 years ago.
From bringing back individuals, such as effects supervisors Shane Mahan and Alec Gillis, who worked onAliens' animatronic puppets, to designing The Renaissance’s two modules – named Romulus and Remus after the mythological twins who reportedly founded Rome – to visually resemble sets fromAlienandAliens, no stone was left unturned in the pursuit of perfection.
Early tests for our animatronic Xeno, created by the amazing team at LegacyEffects. #AlienRomulus pic.twitter.com/pBnelUIekxAugust 12, 2024
Development on the 20th Century Studios film wasn’t always plain sailing, though. RecentAlienfilms have faced problems ranging from studio interference, to struggles with transitioning between the xenomorph puppets and their CGI counterparts that have impacted audience immersion.Romuluswas no different, with Alvarez revealing “every script page had a big challenge that we needed to figure out”. With some advice he borrowed from multi-award-winning British director Christopher Nolan, though, Alvarez is confident that viewers won’t be able to tell where Romulus' practical and visual effects begin and end, nor when they’re seamlessly switched between.
You have to find a way to trick the audience
“I remember Nolan saying ‘You have to keep changing your technique throughout the movie and even individual shots,'” Alvarez says. “So you have to find a way to trick the audience so they don’t know what’s practical and what isn’t. You have to find a way to fool the brain into not knowing what it’s looking at, otherwise, if you commit to one thing, it becomes very easy to work out if something’s a puppet or not. At the end of the day, moviemaking is all just a big illusion and you have to keep people engaged so they don’t see through the facade.”
A new dawn for the Alien franchise
Alien: Romuluswon’t be the only Alien project faced with the challenge of rebuilding trust between the franchise and the general public. The first-everAlienTV series, which is set to debut onHulu(in the US) sometime in 2025 and has been created byFargo’s Noah Hawley, will continue to flesh out its sci-fi horror universe in new and unexpected ways. Indeed, the show – officially titledAlien: Earth,as confirmed by Hawley and production studio FX boss John Landgref in mid-July– will, unsurprisingly, bring the xenomorph threat to our very own corner of the cosmos.
Alien: Earthis set three decades beforeAlien, so its narrative won’t run concurrent to what happens inRomulus. However, events that transpire inAlien: Earth, plus any new franchise lore it introduces, has the potential to impact or even contradict any fresh mythology thatRomulusadds into the equation.
If we figure out a [sequel] story, we’ll make sure everything is as canonical as possible
With twoAlienprojects being developed simultaneously at different Disney-owned studios – the entertainment giant is the parent company of FX and 20th Century Studios – how did Alvarez and company navigate the potentially tricky situation of such a scenario playing out? Simply put: they didn’t.
“No,” Alvarez replies when I ask if he and Hawley sat down to discuss their individual project plans to ensure there was consistency between them. “Steve Asbell, who runs 20th Century Studios, worked with Ridley onPrometheusandAlien: Covenant, and he was always there to make sure [there were no contradictions betweenRomulusandEarth]. He’s a true connoisseur and knows the franchise inside and out, so he’s ensured there’s no conflicting ideas. I haven’t read the show’s scripts, and I don’t know what it’s about, but I trust him to take care of that.”
Time will tell ifAlien: Romulus, one of 2024’s most anticipatednew movies, is as spine-tingling and blood-curling as I hope it’ll be, but the initial signs are positive. As I mentioned earlier, early reactions have been universally positive, but those all-important reviews – at the time of writing, none are currently live – will prove whether it’s as scarily epic as many people suggest.
For now, Alvarez isn’t concerning himself with possible sequel plans – “If we figure out a story, we’ll make sure everything is as canonical as possible”, he simply teases. If this so-called “futuristic period piece” serves up a frightening treat for established fans and newcomers alike, though,Alien: Earthnotwithstanding, you can be sure this isn’t the last time that theAlienfranchise will wrap us in the chilling embrace of a horrifying face hug.
Alien: Romulus launches exclusively in theaters worldwide on August 16.
As TechRadar’s senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You’ll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.
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