Alien: Romulus Just Dropped a Behind-the-Scenes Look and Even That Is Terrifying

Alien: Romulus is heading the theaters next month, and the new sci-fi/horror-thriller is expected to take the beloved franchise back to its roots. 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), and Aileen Wu. Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) helmed the film from a script he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe 2). Today, 20th Century Studios released a new behind-the-scenes look at the film that features Spaeny, Álvarez, and more teasing what’s to come. 

“The whole idea behind this film was to really take it back to basics and make it a pure horror movie again,” Álvarez teases in the featurette. It’s also confirmed that the film is set between Alien and Aliens. “A horrifying return to the big screen,” 20th Century Studios captioned the video. “Experience Alien: Romulus in IMAX. In theaters everywhere August 16.” You can check out the behind-the-scenes video below:

What Is Alien: Romulus About?

Alien: Romulus is being billed as more of a spinoff rather than a direct continuation of the Alien franchise and will see a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Álvarez has previously opened up about how a deleted scene from James Cameron’s Aliens featuring young colonists inspired Romulus’ story.

“My first instinct, just to try something different that hasn’t been seen before, was to approach it form the angle of characters who are not professionals or scientists; they’re not even adults,” he said. “I liked this concept of putting people in the front seat of the story who are closer to what the audience is — not that the audience is young, more that the audience is completely virgin to the realities of space. When the characters are professionals, they know more than you do. But when they’re still in their early 20s, they don’t know how to operate the f-cking airlock.”

He continued, “All their parents probably worked on the same ship when they were kids, and that’s how they got to know each other … There’s a lot of history between them because they’re the only family they have. They truly act more like surrogate siblings; some of them even lived under the same roof. A lot of the big themes of the movie are about siblinghood and what does that mean? The Romulus of it all, and the bigger plot with Weyland-Yutani, is actually connected to that as well.”

Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16th.