Romulus Is Doing Something The Previous 6 Movies Deliberately Avoided

While Alien: Romulus looks set to take the Alien franchise back to basics, the sequel also seems like it might give FX’s upcoming TV show a helping hand. The upcoming Alien: Romulus is taking a refreshingly straightforward approach to the sci-fi horror series. After the divisive philosophical navel-gazing of director Ridley Scott’s prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, director Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus promises to bring the same no-frills efficiency that the helmer offered the Evil Dead franchise in 2013. Alien: Romulus is set between Alien and Aliens and, by all accounts, its story and style mimic those two classics.

Rather than attempting to explain the origins of the Xenomorphs and humanity or make any grand statements about human nature, Alien: Romulus’s admirably simple story replicates the claustrophobic horror of the original movie. A group of young, inexperienced scavengers explores a desolate abandoned space station only to come across a very unwelcome resident who tears a bloody swathe through them. Alien: Romulus may be hiding twists that viewers won’t discover until after its release, but the sequel’s setup seems to be highlighting its simplicity as a feature. Despite this, the reboot promises some world-building for the franchise.

Alien: Romulus Explores The Main Characters’ Homeworld

The Heroes of Alien: Romulus Live In A Rainy Dystopia

The trailer for Alien: Romulus implies the movie will flesh out the franchise’s universe, showing what life is like on the human homeworld before the heroes head into space. Broadly speaking, viewers rarely see anything of the everyday lives of normal people in the Alien movies. The series is typically set in space or, in the cases of Prometheus and Alien Vs Predator, well before the original Alien’s events. Prometheus offered a brief glimpse into an unspecified futuristic setting, but these scenes were mostly limited to the headquarters of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Alien: Romulus seems to offer more.

The opening shots of Alien: Romulus’s trailer cut between the central group of young protagonists on a space flight and glimpses of a miserable, rain-soaked futuristic city. Although Alien: Romulus’s trailer gives away a lot, its opening scenes never confirm whether these shots are set somewhere on Earth or another homeworld that humans now inhabit. Since it is set between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus could become the first movie in the series to offer viewers a definitive, cohesive portrait of everyday life for ordinary people in the world of the franchise during its opening act.

Alien: Romulus’ Setting Makes The Franchise More Dystopian

The Heroes Are Desperate To Leave Home

The setting of Alien: Romulus looks dystopian, which could explain why so many of the franchise’s heroes were willing to partake in risky, lonely space missions in the first place. Any hints of the homeworld are limited to brief short of a rainswept urban center and glimpses of cramped living quarters. The attitude that the characters have toward this setup is epitomized in Tyler claiming that scavenging on the derelict space station may be their “Only ticket out of here.” Even Alien: Romulus’s many Xenomorphs might be more appealing than sticking around in this squalor.

This changes the franchise’s overarching story as it proves that the heroes of early Alien movies may not have had an idyllic homeworld they could return to if they survived. It seems unlikely that the reboot will expand on this idea since the primary appeal of Alien: Romulus is its focus on horror over bigger, more ambitious world-building. However, this clarification could help another Alien project that is currently in production. Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley has been working on an Alien TV series for FX for some time now and Alien: Romulus could indirectly establish its setting.

Alien’s Upcoming TV Show Can Continue Romulus’ Expanded Setting

Noah Hawley’s Upcoming TV Series Must Explain Alien’s Lore

Hawley’s TV show can’t be as claustrophobic and single-minded as Alien: Romulus thanks to the nature of TV storytelling, which prioritizes bigger, more expansive world-building. Instead, Alien’s TV show must show more of the franchise’s fictional world, and, in this regard, Alien: Romulus’s opening act could be a great stepping stone. Where Alien: Romulus‘s story promises stripped-back thrillers, Hawley’s show is exciting for precisely the opposite reason. Its longer runtime will offer the showrunner a chance to explore the world of the series in-depth.

If the first act of Alien: Romulus does offer viewers a good look at the homeworld of its characters, the reboot could set up Hawley’s show for success. Alien’s TV show can expand on this vision, fleshing out the ways in which Weyland-Yutani’s corporate corruption has made space travel not only economically necessary but comparatively appealing given the state of everyday life. In the process, Alien’s TV show can build on Alien: Romulus’s extension of the franchise’s surprisingly limited fictional universe.

Alien: Romulus

Director

Fede Alvarez

Release Date

August 16, 2024

Studio(s)

Scott Free Productions , 20th Century

Writers

Fede Alvarez , Rodo Sayagues , Dan O’Bannon , Ronald Shusett

Cast

Cailee Spaeny , David Jonsson , Archie Renaux , Isabela Merced , Aileen Wu , Spike Fearn

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