Fede Álvarez's New Alien Movie Casts Transformers Star Isabela Merced
The newest entry into the "Alien" franchise started by Ridley Scott is coming to us from Fede Álvarez, the filmmaker who brought us 2013's "Evil Dead" and 2016's "Don't Breathe." The film, which will be released on Hulu, is set to star Cailee Spaeny ("Pacific Rim Uprising," "Bad Times at the El Royale"). Though we don't have any information yet about what role she'll play or what the story of the film is, we do know that she'll have a co-star in Isabela Merced, according to Deadline.
Merced recently co-starred as Juliet Capulet in the comedy film "Rosaline," a re-telling of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" from the perspective of Romeo's former lover. She also appeared in the 2022 remake of "Father of the Bride" with Andy Garcia, played Izabella in "Transformers: The Last Knight," and Rachel Cooper in the Netflix film "Sweet Girl" starring Jason Momoa. On top of all that, she voiced the role of Lucky Prescott in "Spirit Untamed" for DreamWorks Animation and played the eponymous character in 2019's "Dora and the Lost City of Gold."
Merced will be seen next in HBO Max's "Turtles All the Way Down," which is based on The New York Times best-selling novel of the same name by John Green. She has also been cast in Sony Pictures' "Madame Web" movie opposite Dakota Johnson.
From robots to aliens
We don't have any further information about the new "Alien" film, but it's interesting to note that both of the actors that have been announced so far are young women. Merced was wonderful in "Rosaline," standing out as a great foil to the lead, Kaitlyn Dever. She's got a great handle on comedy, taking a role that could have ended up being either cloyingly sweet or whiny and making it charming.
The new film comes to us from 20th Century Studios, with Scott Free producing. The "Alien" franchise began with the first film in 1979, followed by "Aliens" in 1986, "Aliens 3" in 1992, and "Alien Resurrection" in 1997. Those were followed baby two "Alien vs. Predator" films and two prequel films directed by Ridley Scott: "Prometheus" in 2012 and "Alien: Covenant" in 2017. There have been numerous video games, novels, and comics connected to the franchise as well. Several years ago, we also came very close to getting an "Alien" film from "District 9" director Neill Blomkamp, though it never came to fruition.
Stay tuned to /Film for updates on the upcoming "Alien" film.