Another film in the “Alien” universe is on the horizon with “Alien: Romulus.” And as director Fede Álvarez has revealed, there has been praise from the highest quarters.
In recent years, “Alien” fans haven’t had much joy in the dark universe that was shaped by Ridley Scott’s visionary direction and Hans Rudolf Giger’s legendary design, which has since become an integral part of the sci-fi world.
One should not forget the contribution of James Cameron, who introduced many elements such as the Alien Queen, the Marines, and their impressive gear with his action-packed “Aliens” in 1986. After the first two films, the series took a slow but steady decline, and even the most recent film, “Alien: Covenant,” couldn’t match the earlier successes.
But that is set to change now. In 2019, a new “Alien” film was announced at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Ridley Scott, who tried in vain with “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant” to kickstart a new trilogy, with talk even later of a total of four prequel films to “Alien,” is only involved as a producer in this project.
This time, horror specialist Fede Álvarez, who breathed new life into the “Evil Dead” series in 2013, was entrusted with the directing. Álvarez co-wrote the script for “Alien: Romulus” with Rodo Sayagues (“Don’t Breathe”). After some delays, filming was completed in Hungary in early July of this year.
“Alien: Romulus” Fede Álvarez was afraid of Ridley Scott’s reaction
The sci-fi horror film is now in the hot phase of post-production. Álvarez has already completed an initial cut. And, as the filmmaker revealed at the DGA Latino Summit in 2023, it received high praise from the highest authority (via the Director’s Guild of America):
“I finished the director’s cut a week ago and had to go through the incredibly nerve-wracking process of sending it to Ridley [Scott], of course. I wanted him to see it before anyone else. And everyone warned me that Ridley is really tough. He’s really tough, especially when it comes to his films. […] So I thought, ‘I can’t win in any case.’ Even if he didn’t ask for it, I wanted to go, sit down with him, look at him, and take it. Even if he were to say, ‘You’ve destroyed my legacy,’ I wanted to stand in front of him and look him in the eye. I didn’t want to receive an email that says, ‘Ridley says…'”
As promised, Álvarez went to Scott, fully expecting to be torn apart by the master. Scott insisted on watching the film all by himself. This made Álvarez even more nervous:
“And then he comes into the room and says, ‘Fede, what can I say? It’s damn great!’ For me, it was like… my family knows it was one of the best moments of my life. That a master like him, whom I admire so much, would watch a film I directed, but especially this one… and then talk to me about what he liked about it for an hour.”
Praise from Ridley Scott, who didn’t even allow Neill Blomkamp (“District 9”) to make “Alien 5”? This can only mean good things and give fans hope that the series will return to its former glory.
As for what “Alien: Romulus” is about, it’s not known, except that the film is not directly connected to existing films within the franchise. Story-wise, it revolves around a group of young people (Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Aileen Wu, Spike Fearn, Archie Renaux) fighting for their survival on an alien planet against the deadliest lifeform in the entire galaxy. “Alien: Romulus” also has a U.S. release date and is set to hit theaters on August 18, 2024. Until then, you have plenty of time to rewatch all the “Alien” films on Disney+.
