The next cinematic installment of the Alien franchise, Alien Romulus, finished shooting earlier in July before the SAG-AFTRA strike started and after the WGA strike had already begun. The good news is that the film is still on track for a 2024 release, and lead star Cailee Spaeny offered some insight on the film’s upcoming plot while speaking to Variety at the recent Gotham Awards.
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According to Spaeny, the upcoming film will be a new story set in between the first and second films in the franchise, namely Ridley Scott’s original Alien from 1979 and James Cameron’s Aliens from 1986. This will also be a new standalone adventure in the Alien universe.
ALIEN ROMULUS WILL BE SET IN-BETWEEN THE FIRST TWO FILMS
Speaking to Variety’s Michaela Zee, Spaeny stated, “It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie.” She continued, “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.”
Spaeny is no stranger to sci-fi films, having starred in the 2018 sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising. And she appears up to the task to try her hand at the Alien series. She added, “My first film [Uprising] was big-budget sci-fi. feel like I’m going back to that world. And I have so much fun. I like trying to do as many different things as I can. So I swapped my high heels and my beehive for spacesuits and lots of wire work. … I love watching those old ‘70s, ‘80s action sci-fi films. And I’m such a fan of that IP and Sigourney Weaver. It’s legendary to get to be a part of it.”
The original film ended with Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as the last surviving crew member of the interstellar commercial freighter vessel, the USCSS Nostromo. Her crew was all gradually killed off by a unique alien organism called a xenomorph, which picked off her other crewmates. At the end of the film, Ripley and the ship’s cat Jonesy manage to escape the ship while setting it to self-destruct. However, the xenomorph also escaped on the shuttle, and Ripley is able to eject it out of the ship into the vacuum of space to get out of the situation with her life intact.
In Aliens, Ripley and a crew of marines return to LV-426, the planet where the xenomorph eggs were first discovered. After Ripley was in cryosleep for about 50 years, a mining colony had been set up on LV-426, but they also discovered the derelict Engineer ship that held the eggs, causing a xenomorph outbreak.
How Alien Romulus will tie into the first two films remains to be seen. This is not the first time there was an Alien story set between the first two movies. The 2014 hit video game, Alien: Isolation, was released and featured a storyline set between Alien and Aliens. The storyline follows Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda Ripley, as she searches for clues regarding the disappearance of her mother as the flight recorder of the Nostromo is recovered, but along with that is another xenomorph threat.
The game actually received a great deal of critical acclaim, and Weaver even did voice work for the title, reprising her iconic role as Ripley. The developers at Creative Assembly also took great care in duplicating the production design and aesthetic of the original film for the ships and costumes in the game.
Besides Alien Romulus, 20th Television and FX are developing a new live-action Alien television series from Noah Hawley. The show is expected to finally start production early next year, so Alien fans will soon have a new theatrical film release and a new television series really soon.
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Alien Romulus is directed by Fede Álvarez from a script by Rodo Sayagues. It also stars Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. The film will open in theaters on Aug. 16.
What do you think of the news? Do you think Fede Alvarez’s Alien Romulus is on the right track? Do you think a new film set between the first two movies is a great idea, or will it fail to live up to those iconic features? Let us know your thoughts on the news on The Illuminerdi’s social media.
SOURCE: Variety
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