Alien: Romulus Director Teases Something Never Seen Before in the “History of Humanity”

In the first teaser for the upcoming Alien: Romulus, audiences see the franchise’s familiar hibernation chambers, with one of the pods noticeably being covered in blood. While discussing the implications of this visual, director Fede Álvarez revealed that this sequence in the finished film allowed him to explore something that hadn’t been seen before in the “history of humanity,” an opportunity he was also able to explore when it came to visualizing sequences in some of his previous movies. What, exactly, this sequence will feature likely won’t be revealed until the movie lands in theaters on August 16th.

“Without spoiling too much, it is a glimpse of a scene that plays differently than other movies — and not just Alien movies,” Álvarez revealed to Entertainment Weekly about the scene. “It’s always great when you can do something in a movie, and you realize while shooting it, ‘Well, this has never been seen before in the history of humanity.’ I’ve dealt with that a few times in my movies, and it’s always great to be shooting it, and you look to the left and see the boom mic guy going, ‘What’s happening here?’”

With the franchise itself exploring events unfolding in the deepest reaches of space, the hibernation pods have been used to allow characters to sleep as their vessel spends years traveling great distances. In both Alien and Aliens, crew members arise without much complication, though in a film like Alien 3, the pods malfunction and characters from previous films don’t survive their hibernation.

The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful Alien franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. 

The film stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), Aileen Wu. Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. 

Alien: Romulus is produced by Ridley Scott (Napoleon), who directed the original Alien and produced and directed the series’ entries Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Michael Pruss (Boston Strangler), and Walter Hill (Alien), with Fede Álvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (Charlie’s Angels), Brent O’Connor (Bullet Train), and Tom Moran (Unstoppable) serving as executive producers.  

Alien: Romulus is set to hit theaters on August 16th.

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