(Updated 03/22/2024)
A new ALIEN movie is coming! The last film in the series, ALIEN: COVENANT, was released in 2017, but don't worry about the gap in time since that movie. ALIEN: ROMULUS is positioned as a stand-alone story which takes place between the events of the original ALIEN from 1977, and the first sequel, ALIENS, from 1986.
In other words, ALIEN: ROMULUS is designed as a sci-fi horror experience full of gooey alien nastiness, without any of the franchise buy-in that often comes with a movie series that spans more than 40 years. The first images and footage are here now, and they're great! Check those out, and we'll tell you a lot more about ALIEN: ROMULUS.
What's the Alien: Romulus Release Date?
20th Century Studios will release ALIEN: ROMULUS in movie theaters on August 16, 2024.
Watch the Intense First Trailer for Alien: Romulus
FIrst things first: That is entirely TOO MANY facehuggers! Too many! The people on this ship are totally screwed. Did they pick up an entire cargo of eggs?
This ALIEN: ROMULUS trailer is excellent. It very distinctly calls back to the original movie while offering sights that suggest many new surprises — and, yes, a full-on horror tone.
What Is the New Alien Movie About?
Even with the teaser trailer out in the world, we know relatively little about the plot of ALIEN: ROMULUS. The cast has said that the movie takes place between ALIEN and ALIENS, and we understand it to be generally unrelated to the rest of the films in the series — which really means we won't see Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley, or Michael Fassbender's character David.
Beyond that, the bloody cryosleep pod seen early in the trailer suggests some ideas. What if someone already infected with an egg was put to sleep, but the alien hatched en route back to Earth? In ALIEN, the company that pulled strings to set the story in motion wanted to bring a xenomorph embryo back to Earth in just this manner — what if the crew of the Nostromo, seen in ALIEN, wasn't the company's only set of pawns?
The New Alien Movie Is By the Evil Dead Remake Filmmaker
ALIEN: ROMULUS is directed by Fede Álvarez, who made the 2013 EVIL DEAD movie and DON'T BREATHE. Those movies demonstrated that Álvarez has a firm hand when it comes to real horror — and that he likes gore and general nastiness. All of which make him an intriguing filmmaker for an ALIEN movie.
Álvarez has the stamp of approval from series creator Ridley Scott, too, as Scott is on board as a producer. And as with EVIL DEAD and DON'T BREATHE, the new ALIEN movie is scripted by Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues.
Who's in the Alien: Romulus Cast?
What we know so far is that Cailee Spaeny (PRISCILLA) leads the cast of ALIEN: ROMULUS. Alongside Spaeny are Isabela Merced (DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD), David Jonsson ("Industry"), Archie Renaux ("Shadow and Bone"), Spike Fearn (AFTERSUN), and newcomer Aileen Wu.
Alien: Romulus Keeps the "Truckers in Space" Vibe of the Original Movie
One thing that sets the original ALIEN apart from other sci-fi stories is that it is about people doing a regular job that just happens to be in space. (And it seems like a lousy job, at that.) Fede Alvarez says that carries forward here.
"The characters are very blue collar, like the best versions of these movies, but they’re way younger than before," Alvarez told EW. "I remember watching the extended cut of Aliens, where you can see a bunch of kids running around the corridors of one of the colonies and go, ‘wow, what it would it be like for those kids when they turned 20? Growing up in a place with no future? Would they want to stay there and do what their parents did, or leave that place?’ That’s a reality that most people in our world face who grow up in a small town or a small country. That was the spirit in which we approached these characters and their story."
Some of the Effects Team Members Are Aliens Veterans
Aside from the understanding that Fede Alvarez wrote and directed the movie, we don't know much about the crew for ALIEN: ROMULUS. But star Cailee Spaeny said in November 2023 that there's some crew continuity between ROMULUS and ALIENS.
“They brought the same team from ALIENS, the James Cameron film," Spaeny said. "The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible."
We'll have more news about ALIEN: ROMULUS soon!
All images courtesy of 20th Century Studios.