Alien: Romulus wants everyone to hear you scream about the terrifyingly daring evolution of the sci-fi horror series
To say that the Stranger franchise has failed to live up to its enormous potential is an understatement. In the 40 years since Aliensthe critically acclaimed 1986 sequel to its terrifying 1979 predecessor Strangerwhich first hit theaters, the film series has failed more times than its iconic xenomorphs have been flung into the infinite void of space.
The lack of a critically acclaimed sequel wasn’t for lack of effort. Alien 3David Fincher’s debut as a feature film director, and Alien Resurrection tried to do something different, but flopped at the box office. The despicable Alien vs. Predator crossover events, pitting the franchise’s biomechanical killing machines against another classic ’80s monster icon, plus more recent entries like Prometheus And Alien: Covenantalso failed to revolutionize the series.
Step forward Alien: Romulus, a nostalgic, standalone entry with a back-to-basics approach
And yet, just like the monsters designed by HR Giger, Stranger franchise seems immortal, which is good news for horror author Fede Álvarez. A diehard Stranger fan, the Uruguayan filmmaker is the latest candidate to try to give a much-needed boost to the struggling film franchise. Step forward Alien: Romulusa standalone story full of nostalgia and a creative approach that goes back to basics and which, according to those crucial early critical responses, finally gives the franchise its first major sequel since Aliens.
Creating a new chronology
20 years later Strangerwhich takes place in the year 2122, Alien: Romulus follows a group of displaced young adult space colonists — 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 where they were born.
When the opportunity arises to explore The Renaissance, an abandoned space station stocked with resources they can sell to fund their permanent departure from Jackson’s Star, the group doesn’t think twice about traveling to the man-made satellite. Little do they know, they’ll soon be fighting for survival against one of the most terrifying and dangerous life forms in the universe.
Romulus‘ position on the series’ timeline – it’s sandwiched between Stranger And Aliensi.e. the two best Stranger films – raised eyebrows upon its initial revelation. Some cynical observers claimed that the chronological placement was intentional, with Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues slyly playing on fan sentimentality for the aforementioned duo, creating a sense of positive bias ahead of Romulus‘ edition.
Stylistically, it was helpful to create a story and design sets that capture a bit of both worlds
Fede Álvarez, Alien: Romulus director
Alvarez, in turn, readily admits that Romulus‘ timeline positioning is intentional, but not for the reasons the doubters gave. Instead, it wasn’t just about the story he and Sayagues wanted to tell, but also about the opportunity to build some essential connective tissue between the films that Romulus is in between.
“There’s a certain continuity from the first film, so it made sense for this to take place a few decades later (Stranger),” Alvarez tells me after a Romulus preview event in mid-June. “It was stylistically helpful to create a story and design sets that capture a little bit of both worlds from those films.
“You will see things that remind you of something Strangerwhich makes sense since Weyland-Yutani’s (the antagonistic megacorporation from the film series) technology wouldn’t have changed much between Stranger and our film. But you also see objects or technology that are precursors to what you see in AliensFor example, the Corbelan (the spaceship the group travels to The Renaissance with) is equipped with an atmospheric processor that is not exactly the same as the one in Aliens. It’s an earlier model that’s more extensive and industrial, so we had to delegate some of the in-universe technology that allowed us to bridge the time gap between the first two films.”
Back to the Future
Alien: Romulus is the ninth and most recent addition to the franchise created by legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott. Given its timeline placement and in order to capture the visual essence and practical feel of the series’ earlier installments, Alvarez and company went back to the beginning to recreate the eerie atmosphere, old-school futuristic sets, and puppet-based xenomorphs used nearly 50 years ago.
From bringing back individuals such as securities supervisors Shane Mahan and Alec Gillis, who Aliens‘ animatronic puppets, to designing the two modules of The Renaissance – named Romulus and Remus, after the mythological twins said to have founded Rome – to visually resemble sets from Stranger And Aliensno stone was left unturned in the pursuit of perfection.
First tests for our animatronic Xeno, made by the amazing team at LegacyEffects. #AlienRomulus pic.twitter.com/pBnelUIekxAugust 12, 2024
However, the development of the 20th Century Studios film did not always go smoothly. Stranger Films faced issues ranging from studio interference to problems transitioning from xenomorphic puppets to their CGI counterparts, which affected audience immersion. Romulus was no different, with Alvarez revealing that “every page of the script had a big challenge that we had to solve.” However, with some advice borrowed from multi-award-winning British director Christopher Nolan, Alvarez is confident that viewers won’t be able to tell where Romulus’ practical and visual effects begin and end, nor when they seamlessly switch between them.
You have to find a way to mislead the public
Fede Álvarez, Alien: Romulus director
“I remember Nolan saying, ‘You have to keep changing your technique throughout the film and even individual shots,'” Alvarez says. “So you have to find a way to fool the audience so they don’t know what’s practical and what’s not. You have to find a way to fool the brain so it doesn’t know what it’s looking at, otherwise it’s very easy to figure out whether something is a puppet or not if you commit to one thing. At the end of the day, filmmaking is just a big illusion and you have to keep people engaged so they don’t see through the facade.”
A new era for the Alien franchise
Alien: Romulus won’t be the only Alien project facing the challenge of rebuilding trust between the franchise and the general public. The very first Stranger Television series, set to debut on Hulu (in the US) sometime in 2025, created by Fargo‘s Noah Hawley, will continue to expand his sci-fi horror universe in new and unexpected ways. The show – officially titled Alien: EarthAs confirmed by Hawley and FX production studio boss John Landgref in mid-July, the film will, unsurprisingly, bring the xenomorph threat to our own corner of the cosmos.
Alien: Earth takes place three decades earlier Strangerso the story won’t run concurrently with what happens in RomulusHowever, events that occur in Alien: Earthplus every new franchise lore it introduces has the potential to impact or even contradict any new mythology that Romulus adds to the equation.
When we come up with a (sequel) story, we make sure everything is as canonical as possible
Fede Álvarez, Alien: Romulus director
With two Stranger With projects in simultaneous development at multiple Disney studios – the entertainment giant is the parent company of FX and 20th Century Studios – how did Alvarez and company navigate the potentially sticky situation of such a scenario? Simply put: They didn’t.
“No,” Alvarez answers when I ask if he and Hawley sat down to discuss their individual project plans to make sure there was consistency between them. “Steve Asbell, who runs 20th Century Studios, worked with Ridley on Prometheus And Alien: Covenantand he was always there to make sure that (there were no contradictions between Romulus And Earth). He’s a real connoisseur and knows the franchise inside and out, so he’s made sure there’s no conflicting ideas. I haven’t read the scripts for the show and I don’t know what it’s about, but I trust he’ll take care of that.”
Time will tell whether Alien: Romulusone of the most anticipated new movies of 2024, is every bit as terrifying and bloodcurdling as I hope it will be, but early signs are positive. As I said before, early reactions have been unanimously positive, but those all-important reviews – none are live at the time of writing – will prove whether it’s as terrifyingly epic as many are making it out to be.
Alvarez isn’t dwelling on possible sequels for now – “When we come up with a story, we make sure everything is as canonical as possible,” he only teases. But if this so-called “futuristic period piece” is a terrifying treat for established fans and newcomers alike, Alien: Earth Nevertheless, you can be sure that this will not be the last time that the Stranger franchise will envelop us in a chilling embrace.
Alien: Romulus opens exclusively in theaters worldwide on August 16.