Summary
-
Alien: Romulus
star David Jonsson teases a “very different” standalone story set between the first two films. - The
Alien
installment follows a group of young people who must face off against the terrifying Xenomorph. -
Alien: Romulus
promises to bring back the original design team, offering a fresh take on the iconic extraterrestrial creature.
In an exclusive interview with MovieWeb, Alien: Romulus star David Jonsson teased the “very, very, very different” approach to the Alien saga in this year’s prequel/sequel. Jonsson, who recently starred in the new Agatha Christie series Murder Is Easy, will be one of the three leads in Alien: Romulus, and declares that the latest Alien installment will be “an incredible spin” on the franchise.
“I mean, I’m not too sure what I can say just yet, but I know that… I know that it’s very, very, very different. I think Alien was slightly before my generation, in terms of its depth and its impact at the time, but you know, we have such an incredible spin on it. And we had Fede Álvarez as our director, Ridley Scott producing it. It was incredible to work with those people, and opposite Cailee Spaeny, who is just a brilliant actress. I think it’s going to be cool. I’m very excited.”
Rather than the franchise-filmmaking that the Alien series has become, Alien: Romulus is expected to be a standalone story that slots in between the events of the first Alien (1979) and the sequel, Aliens (1986). Directed by Fede Álvarez, who co-wrote the movie with his Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe collaborator Rodo Sayagues, Alien: Romulus will see Jonsson lead alongside Priscilla star Cailee Spaeny and Madame Web’s Isabela Merced.
Alien: Romulus Is Due to Land in Theaters This August
alien
- Release Date
- May 25, 1979
- Writers
- Dan O’Bannon , Ronald Shusett
- Tagline
- In space…no one can hear you scream.
While details of what Alien: Romulus will involve remain somewhat unknown, a short blurb was recently revealed which reads…
“Young people from a distant world must face the most terrifying life form in the universe.”
Thus, we can no doubt assume that Jonsson, Spaeny, and Merced will be the “young people” at the center of the story, who somehow find themselves being hunted by the iconic extraterrestrial being, The Xenomorph. Cailee Spaeny, who has received critical acclaim for her performance as Priscilla Presley in director Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, has also confirmed that Alien: Romuluswill be both a prequel and sequel, with the movie landing somewhere between the first and second movies in the Alien franchise.
“It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie. They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. 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.”
What Could We Expect from an Alien TV Show?
What could be in store for the small-screen offering of the classic sci-fi franchise?
Alongside Alien: Romulus, an Alien television series is also now being developed by Fargo’s Noah Hawley. Written and directed by Hawley, the Alien series will act as a prequel to the original movie, taking place three decades before Ripley ever encountered the Xenomorph. Starring Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Essie Davis, Adarsh Gourav, Kit Young, David Rysdahl, and Timothy Olyphant, the FX Alien series is expected to premiere in the first half of 2025.
Alien: Romulus
is scheduled to be theatrically released by 20th Century Studios on August 16, 2024.
