In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream During The Alien: Romulus Trailer
At the risk of barging too hot out the gate, I'm going to co-sign Chris Evangelista's argument for /Film that there are no bad "Alien" movies. (The "Alien vs. Predator" movies aren't really canon anyway, so I reckon we're fine ignoring them.) Sure, the various follow-ups to Ridley Scott's classic 1979 original can be polarizing — especially Scott's gothic prequel films "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant" — but they're never boring, and "Alien" itself remains the rare IP where each individual entry retains the hallmarks of the directors who made them. As though any other franchise would ever let Jean-Pierre Jeunet come in and make a no-holds-barred Jean-Pierre Jeunet sci-fi horror film like "Alien: Resurrection." Just sayin'.
For as much as I would've liked it if Scott got to finish telling the story of the beloved homicidal android David (Michael Fassbender) with his intended prequel trilogy finale "Alien: Awakening," I'm curious to see what Fede Álvarez comes up with playing in this particular sandbox. The "Evil Dead" (2013) and "Don't Breathe" filmmaker is taking the reins on "Alien: Romulus," a movie that we currently don't know a whole lot about, other than its story takes place between the events of "Alien" and "Aliens." But before you panic and assume we're about to get a cameo from an un-canny, digitally de-aged Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley (à la Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in "The Mandalorian"), the iconic Scream Queen herself has announced that her days of dueling with Xenomorphs are now behind her. Instead, it appears Álvarez is thankfully more interested in taking the series in a different direction rather than retreading old ground.
For more on that, watch the newly unveiled official "Alien: Romulus" trailer above.
A return to the post-Alien world
No "Alien" film would be complete without a plucky heroine at its core, so "Priscilla" star Cailee Spaeny is leading the charge in "Romulus." She's joined by the likes of Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, and Aileen Wu in the cast, with Alvarez directing from a script he penned with his writing partner Rodo Sayagues. And unlike the "Predator" film "Prey," you'll be able to catch this one on the big screen, if you so choose, thanks to Disney scrapping plans to send it straight to Hulu in favor of giving it a theatrical run first. Granted, the studio only did that last year after overhauling its release slate in response to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that it and the rest of the AMPTP could've easily prevented, but we'll take the win anyway. (Goodness knows theaters could do with all the big films they can get in 2024.)
As for Scott, it should come as no surprise that cinephiles' favorite cantankerous grandpa couldn't resist taking some shots at the upcoming "Alien" projects that 20th Century Studios is making instead of "Awakening," in particular Noah Hawley's FX series. In spite of this, Scott apparently had nothing but kind words to say after catching an early screening of "Romulus," telling Alvarez the film is "f***ing great" (via The Hollywood Reporter). Is Ridley suddenly going soft on us, or has Alvarez indeed cooked up something special here?
"Alien: Romulus" attacks theaters on August 16, 2024.