‘Alien: Romulus’ director reveals film’s connection to previous instalments

Director Fede Álvarez’s latest addition to the Alien franchise, “Alien: Romulus”, initially seemed like a return to the series’ roots. However, Álvarez has revealed surprising connections to previous instalments, particularly “Alien: Resurrection” and “Prometheus”.

Co-written with Rodo Sayagues, the film is set between the first two movies, with the plot centring on characters who discover a deserted space station where scientists have retrieved remnants of the xenomorph from the U.S.S. Nostromo. This leads to the emergence of new facehuggers and xenomorphs, which begin hunting the cast.

In an interview, Álvarez explained the film’s ties to past entries, highlighting a connection to the Engineers from Prometheus. While he didn’t initially recognise the parallels to the human-xenomorph hybrid from Resurrection until his son pointed it out, Álvarez consciously decided to link the movie to the Prometheus mythology.

“[My son] had recently watched with a buddy of his all of the Alien movies, and when the offspring comes out, he goes, ‘It’s like in Resurrection.’ I hadn’t really processed that that way — but it’s true, it’s this abomination that comes out,” he said.

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This decision aimed to bridge the gap between the prequels and the original series, with the black goo playing a pivotal role as the source of life—and death—for the xenomorphs.

Despite expectations that ‘Alien: Romulus’ would abandon Ridley Scott’s prequels in favour of the original formula, Álvarez and Sayagues instead found ways to connect the films. The black goo, central to Prometheus, reappears as the lifeblood of the xenomorphs, with scientists aboard Romulus trying to replicate it to create the “perfect” human.

This ultimately leads to disastrous consequences, including the transformation of Isabella Merced’s character into a deadly xenomorph-human hybrid. The film, while offering new insights into the franchise’s lore, also leaves lingering questions from Scott’s prequels unanswered.