Early reactions are calling Alien: Romulus a return to form for the iconic alien-infested franchise, which is good news for those facehuggers. They love sticking around and causing deathly drama in space, and they have no reason to stop now.
Director Fede Alvarez was inspired by the early horror of the first installment in the franchise, while also being careful not to alienate (get it?!?!) potential new viewers. “You never want a young audience to go see a movie and furrow their brow thinking, ‘Who is this person? Why is half the cinema so excited about this man and I don’t know who he is?’” he says. “It becomes an excess I’m not interested in,” Alvarez told The LA Times in a joint interview with Scott. So, Alvarez took elements from Ridley Scott’s Alien and collaborated with the director, who also served as producer on the film.
“Ridley was always the person I went to in order to show him where things are and to debate with him and to have his blessing and also his criticism and pushback on some things,” Alvarez explained. “It was a creative collaboration where we met in the middle.” Scott had previously told Alvarez “don’t f*ck up,” so this is a nice follow-up.
Not only were the two able to work together on a worthwhile story, but Scott was very impressed with Alvarez’s take on the Alien-verse. So much so, that he thinks Alvarez could take on another Alien story if he wants to. “I hope Fede’s got another one up his sleeve because I think this is going to do really well,” Scott added. “He’s got a streak of brilliance.” Even though Romulus is a standalone “interquel,” there are always more alien stories to tell.
While this is no confirmation that a sequel will happen, it’s always good to have the brain behind the machine, in this case Ridley Scott, on board with any future projects. Meanwhile, the prequel Alien TV series is underway at FX with Timothy Olyphant attached to star. Not as an alien, but just a regular guy.