Alien: Romulus Star Teases a "Very, Very Different" Spin on Iconic Franchise

The first four entries in the Alien franchise followed a relatively linear narrative focusing on Sigourney Weaver's Ripley, which was followed by two films exploring a collision with the Predator franchise, and then followed by two prequel films that aimed to set the stage for the existence of the iconic xenomorph. Fans have been speculating about what we'll see in the upcoming spinoff Alien: Romulus from director Fede Álvarez, with star David Jonsson teasing a "very, very, very different" approach to the franchise. Given Álvarez's penchant for offering audiences ruthless horror, fans will likely be getting a slightly different tone than the methodically paced original Alien. Alien: Romulus is set to hit theaters on August 16th.

"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," Jonsson recalled to MovieWeb. "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."

Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu also star in the new film. The movie was previously teased as following "a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe."

As far as the official timeline of the Alien franchise is concerned, the earliest events are those of AVP: Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, which take place in 2004 and 2007, respectively. The series then jumps to 2093 with Prometheus, with subsequent films unfolding linearly up to Alien: Resurrection, which takes place in 2381.

Star Spaeny previously claimed the upcoming movie is a spinoff set between the events of the first two entries.

"It's supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie," Spaeny revealed to Variety in November 2023. "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."    

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

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!