The following story contains some spoilers for Alien: Romulus.
I SAY IT: The Foreigner film Franchise is the best sci-fi/horror franchise out there. Whether we’re talking about the fear of Ridley Scott’s 1979 original Foreigner, the blockbuster enormity of James Cameron’s 1986 Aliens, the heady themes and sci-fi brilliance of Scott’s prequels Prometheus And Alien: Covenant, or anything in between, the movies are always exactly what we want and need: entertaining, action-packed and sometimes scary, with great characters that keep us hooked the entire time.
What makes these films so great, however, is that they are so wonderfully connected. Each film in the series is supported by what Foreigner established, but the rest of the films link to the others in one way or another, whether it be through characters, references or something else; each text can generally enrich another in one way or another.
This brings us to Alien: Romulus. The seventh film in the actual Foreigner Series (we do not count the Alien vs Predator Films), Romulus takes place between the events of Foreigner And Aliens, and director Fede Álvarez made a point of paying homage to many of the films in the franchise that have come before it. This includes some of the tones of the film, some of the underlying lore that shapes the film and its world, some of the plots and the way people speak, and of course it shapes the presence of the Xenomorphs and other creatures that appear throughout the film.
We knew Alien: Romulus wanted to join the rest of the Foreigner franchiseBut How The fact that it makes a connection is, all things considered, quite a big surprise.
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Alien: Romulus lies between Foreigner And Aliens
It was made clear in advance Alien: Romulusthat the film takes place between the events of Foreigner (1979) and Aliens (1986). Caileee Spaeny originally confirmed this in a November 2023 interview with Diversity. “It’s supposed to be between the first and second film,” she said. “They have the same team of Aliensthe James Cameron film. The same people who built those Xenomorphs actually came and built ours.”
The film alludes to this from the beginning, as the first scene of the film shows the Xenomorph emerging from the Nostromo‘S Airlock where Ripley is looted and taken away for experiments by a Weyland-Yutani Corporation science team; they assumed, like us, that the creature was dead, but you know what? It’s not. This is presumably why the Xenomorphs wreak havoc on this station, killing people and eventually abandoning the station… and then being looted for parts and valuables by our main characters throughout the rest of the film.
It is science that is Prometheus
A large proportion of the prequel films directed by Ridley Scott Prometheus And Alien: Covenant revolve around the search for and creation of the “perfect” life forms. This involves the creation and discovery of a very disgusting (and potentially very dangerous) black goo.
In Alien: Romulus, It is directed by Rook (Ian Holm, and yes, more on The same) that the black goo was discovered by Weyland-Yutani scientists and reverse-engineered into what they now call the “Prometheus Strain.” It’s still a black goo, but now it’s in a test tube and being touted as a potential cure for all ills – because we all know how well that stuff usually works in the movies!
As it turns out, the Prometheus strain plays a major role at the end of the film; after Kay (Isabela Merced) – who was revealed to be pregnant earlier in the film – is nearly fatally wounded by a Xenomorph, she injects herself with the Prometheus strain. And while she initially appears to be cured, it doesn’t last. Her pregnancy ends prematurely and she gives birth to a horrific creature that looks like a cross between a Xenomorph, a human, and the Engineers. Prometheus.
This terrible new creature becomes the greatest threat in RomulusThe third act is the beginning of an exciting film and contributes to making it the most exciting part of an already exciting film.
It contains a callback to an iconic Aliens line
As Rain (Spaeny) and Andy (David Jonsson) face their final battle with the Xenomorph, things look bleak… until Andy manages to fall down, hit the Xenomorphy, and shoot it in the head about a hundred times.
But that’s not all; he has enough time to utter one of the series’ most famous lines. “Get away from her, you… bitch,” he says, maintaining the stutter that comes with his outdated Android hardware.
This is, of course, a reminiscence of an absolutely unbelievable sentence that Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) said in one of the most thrilling moments of the 1986 film. Aliens.
It offers a (bizarre) look back at a Foreigner character, with Ian Holm’s image now projected onto an android named Rook
The most controversial attempt to transform nostalgia into Alien: Romulus includes the return of Ian Holm, who played the evil android Ash in the original Foreigner, this time, he played a mostly destroyed evil android named Rook. There’s one problem, though… Holm died in 2020 at the age of 88, and his likeness is resurrected here, thanks to a combination of Holm’s likeness via AI augmentation and a voice and facial performance by actor Daniel Betts. It’s a very uncanny valley, and was absolutely not necessary, especially given the amount of effort and skill that went into the excellent production design and practical effects throughout the film.
Rook brings an interesting element to the story as he gets Andy to upgrade his software and changes his instructions; he becomes more sinister and his story arc becomes more complete as a result. But we just didn’t accept this unnecessary and strange technology in the film; it wasn’t good when Peter Cushing was resurrected in the Star Wars film. Villain One, and now it’s not much better.
