It’s been seven years since we saw the xenomorph on screen; Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” was not cutting it for audiences in 2017. But come August 16, the xenomorph (the terminology coined by James Cameron’s “Aliens”) returns in “Alien: Romulus” from horror director Fede Álvarez (“Don’t Breathe”). The first trailer arrived earlier today; apparently, all the “Alien” godfathers love this newest installment. Executive producer Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Prometheus,” “Alien: Covenant”) watched an early director’s cut of the film and gave it a warm reception last year, saying, “Fede, what can I say? It’s f*cking great.” And now, in a new THR piece, Alvarez revealed that Cameron also watched and gave his approval, “He’s now seen the movie and loved it.”
“Romulus” is also confirmed to take place between the events of “Alien” and “Aliens,” so having the backing of Scott and Cameron was likely crucial to Álvarez, given its place within the “Alien” franchise timeline.
“I love all of those movies. I didn’t want to omit or ignore any of them when it comes to connections at a story level, character level, technology level, and creature level,” Álvarez said of ensuring the mythology of his film made a bridge to the larger, overall franchise. “There’s always connections from ‘Alien’ to ‘Alien: Covenant.’”
Also, directly connecting to the previous films was essential, but the filmmaker assured that new audiences won’t need to know everything before watching ‘Romulus.’
“It does take place between the two movies. The way we crafted it is if you haven’t seen any of them, I’m jealous because you’ll have an incredible experience,” he explained. “You’ll have all these worlds of ‘Alien’ coming at you, and you’ve never experienced any of this. You don’t know how the creature is born, and you don’t know any of these things. That’s fantastic. You’ll have a blast. Now, if you’ve seen the others, then it’s a completely different experience in a way because you’ll see and you’ll find those connections with the other movies.”
Interestingly enough, the film was originally going to be streaming exclusively on Hulu, but the brass at Disney/20th Century Studios decided to give it a theatrical release instead. That decision was likely due to the warm reception of Dan Trachtenberg’s “Predator” prequel installment, “Prey,” which had been released on streaming. Due to that ecstatic embrace from audiences, two more “Prey” movies are in the works, including the non-sequel, “Badlands.”
You can watch the “Alien: Romulus” trailer below, which teases the young colonists who must face another wave of xenomorphs. This movie isn’t the only “Alien” project on the horizon; expected in 2025, an FX/Hulu series is currently shooting in Thailand, with Noah Hawley (“Fargo”) overseeing it and directing episodes.