Alien: Romulus Trailer Released by 20th Century Studios

20th Century Studios has shared the trailer for the next installment of the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus. Set between the events of the first two films, Romulus is directed by Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe‘s Fede Álvarez. Romulus is the first entry after 2017’s Alien: Covenant from Ridley Scott, which grossed roughly $240 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of ~$97 million. 

Rodo Sayagues (Evil Dead) co-wrote the script with Álvarez while Scott is on board as a producer for the film. Álvarez has stated he’s looking to take the franchise into a different direction to do something that “hasn’t been done before.” This is incredibly evident by the new trailer, which you can watch below.

What is Alien: Romulus About?

Álvarez recently opened up about a scene in the original Alien film that inspired the story for Romulus, pointing to the younger generation of space colonists and how they would operate under the circumstances as opposed to professionals.

“My first instinct, just to try something different that hasn’t been seen before, was to approach it from the angle of characters who are not professionals or scientists; they’re not even adults,” Álvarez explained to Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

Per 20th Century Studios, the synopsis is as follows: “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.”

Additionally, Romulus star Cailee Spaeny confirmed to ComicBook that synthetic characters are viewed differently, 

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 debuts in theaters August 16th.