Alien: Romulus

"In space, no one can hear you."

―Alien: Romulus tagline

Alien: Romulus is a feature film in the Alien franchise. Directed by Fede Álvarez and produced by Ridley Scott, it was released on August 16, 2024.

Publisher's summary[]

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.

Plot[]

On February 9, 2142, the Echo 203 probe enters the floating wreckage of the USCSS Nostromo and picks up a large, organic object. It is eventually brought to a research facility where masked scientists open the object with lasers to reveal a cocoon-like structure, inside of which is a curled-up Xenomorph.

170 days later, at the mining colony Jackson's Star, scientist Rain Carradine has fulfilled her work contract with the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and expects to be allowed to leave for the planet Yvaga III with her adoptive brother Andy, a malfunctioning synthetic reprogrammed by Rain's late father. However, due to a worker shortage, a Weyland-Yutani clerk refuses Rain's request and instead extends her work contract from the 12,000 hours she already delivered to 24,000, telling her to later report to the mines. Afterward, Rain is summoned by her ex-boyfriend, Tyler Harrison. At his residence, she meets Tyler's pregnant sister Kay, his cousin Bjorn and Bjorn’s adoptive sister Navarro. Tyler informs Rain of a derelict space station, which they presume to be a ship, drifting in orbit above the colony, telling her they could use the station's still-functioning hypersleep chambers to facilitate an escape to Yvaga, as the hauler they already have can get them there. Rain is initially reluctant to take part in a criminal trespass of Weyland-Yutani property, but eventually goes along, specially as Andy is necessary to communicate with the station's computers.

Tyler's group leaves in the mining hauler Corbelan IV to the derelict craft, which turns out to be the Weyland-Yutani research outpost Renaissance, divided into the sections, Romulus and Remus. Tyler, Andy and Bjorn board the station and fix the unstable gravity and atmosphere generators. However, they discover the hypersleep chambers don't have enough coolant fuel for the nine-year trip to Yvaga. The trio locates a large, still-functioning cryonic chamber next to a laboratory and scavenge its fuel. In doing so, they inadvertently revive the frozen Facehugger specimens inside and trigger an automatic lockdown. The Facehuggers attack them, and Andy doesn't have the security clearance needed to override the lockdown, prompting Navarro and Rain to come to their rescue. Rain notices a destroyed synthetic and removes a chip from its brain, and through a gap in the laboratory door delivers it to Tyler so he can install the module into Andy. The chip grants Andy full access to Renaissance while repairing his malfunctions, but it also resets his prime directive to serve Weyland-Yutani.

Once the laboratory door is opened, the crew are pursued by a horde of Facehuggers. One lone Facehugger manages to attach itself to Navarro. Following unsuccessful attempts to release her from its grip, Rain reactivates the destroyed synthetic, Rook, to ask for help. Rook informs the group that the station's personnel have all been killed by the creatures, showing them the corpse of a Xenomorph previously found in the Nostromo wreckage, and states that Navarro cannot be saved. Tyler still uses cryonic liquid to freeze the Facehugger's tail, allowing the group to untie it from Navarro's neck and remove the creature from her face. Rook still warns that Navarro may have been implanted by the Facehugger.

Andy tries to stop Navarro from returning to the Corbelan IV, but Bjorn, hostile towards Andy due to a past incident with a synthetic, flees with Navarro aboard the vessel, leaving Rain, Andy and Tyler behind. Navarro is killed by the Chestburster breaking out of her. Her leg spasms hit the flight stick, which causes the Corbelan IV to crash into the Romulus hangar bay. The impact destabilizes Renaissance, which now has less than an hour before crashing into the rings of Jackson's Star.

As Kay and Bjorn attempt to leave the ship, they come across the Xenomorph having cocooned itself on the wall of the Corbelan IV to initiate its final growth cycle. Bjorn attempts to kill it via electrocution, but instead accelerates the creature hatching which kills him as Kay escapes. The surviving group go to the hangar, where Kay asks them to open the doors. However, Andy notices the Xenomorph lurking behind her and refuses, saying the creature would follow her. The group watches helplessly as Kay is attacked by the Xenomorph and dragged into the depths of Renaissance. Following his new mission directives, Andy locates samples of an experimental fluid extracted from the Xenomorphs, codenamed "Z-01" and referred to as the Prometheus Fire by Rook. Rook tells them that the compound was developed to give humans the characteristics that allow Xenomorphs to survive in extreme conditions. Footage in the laboratory shows that Z-01 can resurrect and heal a dead rat. Rook insists the samples must be returned to Jackson's Star, takes control of Renaissance's computers and refuses to let the Corbelan IV leave without the samples onboard. Unbeknownst to Rook and Rain's group, the rat is shown to have been mutated and killed by Z-01.

Rain and Tyler find two F44AA Pulse Rifles to fight their way back to their ship. Entering a corridor turned into a Xenomorph hive, Tyler hears Kay crying, leading to the trio finding her in a cocoon. After she is freed, Andy notices Kay's injuries and suggests that injecting her with Z-01 could possibly heal her. The Xenomorphs attack, damaging Andy and killing Tyler. After rushing Kay to an elevator, Rain decides to rescue Andy, telling Kay to get to the Corbelan IV and prepare to leave. Once there, Kay injects herself with Z-01, causing her wounds to close. Upon finding Andy, Rain removes the extra chip from his brain and resets him to his original behavior. The Xenomorphs approach and before they attack, Rain shuts off the gravity generator, making them float to avoid having their acidic blood eat through the station's hull and allow the vacuum of space in. As they rise in the elevator shaft, killing two more Xenomorphs along the way, they make it to the Corbelan IV. Renaissance crashes into the rings, destroying the station, Rook, and the Xenomorphs.

Rain puts Kay in a hypersleep chamber. As she and Andy prepare the Corbelan IV's departure, a warning indicates that Kay is in critical condition. Rain opens the chamber and sees Kay giving birth to an egg, from which emerges a rapidly growing human-Xenomorph hybrid. The mutant kills Kay, heavily damages Andy, and destabilizes the Corbelan IV, threatening the ship with destruction. Rain puts on a pressure suit and fights the mutant before ejecting it along with the ship's cargo pod. After Rain regains control of the ship and saves it from crashing into the rings of Jackson's Star, she puts Andy in one of the hypersleep chambers, and in a final log before entering stasis herself, reflects on the uncertainty of their arrival at Yvaga but maintains hope.

Cast[]

Rain Carradine .... Cailee Spaeny
Andy .... David Jonsson
Tyler Harrison^[5] .... Archie Renaux
Kay Harrison .... Isabela Merced
Bjorn .... Spike Fearn
Navarro .... Aileen Wu
MU/TH/UR 9000 .... Annemarie Griggs
Offspring .... Robert Bobroczkyi
Xenomorph .... Trevor Newlin
Rook ... Ian Holm (facial and vocal reference) / Daniel Betts (facial and vocal performance)

Development[]

The idea for Romulus was pitched by Alvarez to Ridley Scott sometime before 2021. In this year, Scott called Alvarez and asked him if he was still willing to make the Alien movie he had pitched. Alvarez succeeded. According to 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell, 20C decided to move forward with the project "purely off the strength of Fede's [Alvarez's] pitch," as it was "just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven't seen before."^[6]

An idea floated for Romulus early in development was that it wouldn't be sold as an Alien film. Alvarez suggested that the title be bereft of "Alien," and would instead have an apparently unrelated title. In this version, the characters would walk into a room and see a Xenomorph egg, alerting the audience to the fact that they were actually watching an Alien film.^[7]

Alvarez was attached to the project in 2022.^[8] One of the first things Alvarez considered was when to set the film. He decided to set it between Alien and Aliens.^[9] Ridley Scott served as a producer, while James Cameron worked as an unofficial consultant.^[10] Keeping with the aesthetic of the original film, Romulus uses a retrofuturistic aesthetic.^[11]

Alvarez used Xenopedia when writing the film. Romulus is designed to fit into the canon of the films as much as possible, but according to Alvarez, "things got hard" when he started factoring in the novels.^[12]

Before production began, Alvarez had conversations with Ridley Scott about Ian Holm's lack of appearance compared to other actors that had played other synthetics such as Lance Henriksen and Michael Fassbender. Before committing to the idea, Alvarez contacted Holm's family and widow, who gave consent to use his likeness on the new synthetic character Rook, created to be completely different from Holm's portrayal of Ash. Rook was achieved through a combination of animatronics built to resemble Holm and actor Daniel Betts performing his lines. As soon as Alvarez finished his rough cut of the film, he showed it to Holm's family, who were one of the first groups of people to see it, following James Cameron and Ridley Scott. ^[13]^[14]

The characters are younger than those found in other Alien films. The idea for this came from the extended cut of Aliens, where children can be seen in Hadley's Hope before the Xenomorph outbreak. According to Alvarez, "what would it be like for those kids to grow up in a colony that still needs another 50 years to terraform? So I remember thinking that if I ever tell a story in that world, I would definitely be interested in those kids when they reach their early twenties."^[10]

The team who worked on the Xenomorphs in Aliens were brought in to create the film's Xenomorphs.^[15] It has been stated that the Xenomorph design in the film is more similar to the original H.R. Giger designs than any other incarnation since the original Alien.^[16]

It was originally intended that Romulus was to be sent straight to streaming. This was because development started during the global Covid-19 pandemic, and it wasn't clear whether it would be theatrically released or not. This affected the film's budget, as under Disney, direct-to-stream movies have smaller budgets than theatrically-released ones.^[17]

A director's cut was shown to both Scott and James Cameron, both of whom gave the film their approval.^[9] Cameron saw a rough cut of the film six months before its release, after which he passed on some notes to Alvarez.^[18]

Throughout its production, Romulus was filmed in chronological order to better emulate the suspenseful atmosphere of the original 1979 Alien in which viewers initially did not know who was going to live. In addition, the cast had emotional goodbyes to actors whose characters had died and continued filming without them.^[19]

The title was officially confirmed by Disney in Q1 2024.^[20] The film was originally intended to be released on Hulu, but before shooting began, it was decided to release it in theaters instead.^[21]

The film, an original standalone feature based on the original sci-fi horror movie released in 1979, will follow a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.^[22]

Romulus takes place in 2142^[9] between the events of Alien and Aliens.^[8] Most of the film takes place on the space station Renaissance. Many of the characters are siblings, whether it be through blood or as surrogate siblings.^[9]

Romulus takes place in the 'era' of the first film. This is represented on-screen with the technology present being the same (or at least similar) to that in Alien, whereas the technology seen in Aliens is on the cusp of being developed.^[9] The first hour of the film adopts the slower, dread-laden atmosphere of Alien, while the second hour is more akin to Aliens in style and tempo.^[23]

The film is designed to be accessible to those who have not watched any prior Alien films.^[24]

The film's level of connectivity to said films has differed between sources. According to Collider, Romulus will have no connection to any previous Alien film or the Alien TV series.^[8] According to Rodo Sayagues (one of Alvarez's collaborators), the film's script does not connect with any prior Alien film sans the titular creature.^[6] According to Alvarez himself however, connections to the other films are not ignored in Romulus, specifically mentioning Alien and Alien: Covenant,^[10] and has stated that Romulus does not override any prior installment.^[6]

Humanity's relationship with AI is a theme of the film (represented by characters such as Andy), but is not a theme the film seeks to make a commentary on.^[25]

Siblinghood is another intended theme of the film. This is reflected in the character roster (many of the characters are siblings), the design and namesakes of Renaissance (the Romulus and Remus modules), and the titular Roman figures.^[9]