There are few cinematic sci-fi franchises as widely beloved and as highly influential as the Alien movies, which also counts as one of the best horror movie franchises of all time with how creepy and gory things tend to get when Xenomorphs are around. So far, we have seen humans struggle to survive against said terrifying, bloodthirsty creature (sometimes in multiples) on the big screen eight times — if you include the two Alien vs. Predator crossover films and the brief glimpse at an early variation of the Xenomorph from the end of Prometheus. The franchise will soon continue when the upcoming 2024 movie, Alien: Romulus, arrives.
Now, any time it is announced that a long-running, iconic franchise such as this is about to continue with a new film, it tends to raise a great deal of questions. However, with how complicated the Alien movies timeline has gotten in recent years and with the announcement of an FX original spin-off TV show from Noah Hawley in the works, this is a special case. We will provide you with as many things that we know at the moment about the latest sequel to one of the greatest space movies in our guide to Alien: Romulus, below.
What Is The Alien: Romulus Release Date?
Fans can expect to see Alien: Romulus — the ninth installment in the franchise — when it hits theaters on Friday, August 16, 2024.
The Alien: Romulus Trailer Will Make You Scream Loud Enough For Everyone To Hear
What makes the original Alien from 1979 one of the best horror movies of all time is its perfect blend of multiple elements of fear – namely claustrophobia, paranoia, and one scary-ass creature let loose on an isolated spacecraft. It appears that this new installment is going back to basics by reincorporating those details, but adding a few of its own frightening differentiators that might help it stand out among the rest. Check out the full-length trailer below to see what we mean:
The two-minute Alien: Romulus teaser trailer gave us a good feeling that this might be the scariest Alien movie since the original, with brutal explosions and hordes of leaping facehuggers. However, this second clip really has us shaking with its expert sound design – using the chestburster sound to build tension – close-ups of a facehugger aggressively invading its next host, and imagery of a brutal and transfixing variety unlike anything the franchise has shown us yet. On the downside, it does not show us very much of the titular creature, but could that be a hint at the introduction of a new Xenomorph? We will have to see.
Cailee Spaeny Leads The Alien: Romulus The Cast
We would love to see legendary Scream Queen Sigourney Weaver reprise her Academy Award-nominated role as Ellen Ripley someday. However, the actors who have been confirmed to appear in the Alien: Romulus cast – whose character names are currently undisclosed – give us plenty of reason to be excited.
Cailee Spaeny
In the lead is Cailee Spaeny, who made her feature film debut fighting otherworldly beings in Pacific Rim: Uprising before later joining HBO’s Mare of Easttown cast and playing the title role in Sofia Coppola’s biopic, Priscilla. In 2024, she starred in another acclaimed A24 movie called Civil War, which reunited her with Devs creator Alex Garland.
Isabela Merced
The Alien: Romulus cast also includes Isabela Merced, who also has experience contending with both aliens and robots (specifically alien robots) from starring in Transformers: The Last Knight with her Instant Family co-star, Mark Wahlberg. The actor and musician’s other most notable previous credits include the title role in Dora and the Lost City of Gold and Anya Corazon in the Madame Web cast, and she will play Hawkgirl in an upcoming superhero movie out in 2025: James Gunn’s Superman.
David Jonsson
Alien: Romulus will serve as the feature-length horror debut for David Jonsson, who leads a short horror-comedy movie called Meat Puppet, which premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival. The British actor made his feature film debut in one of the best movies on Hulu, Rye Lane, following roles on TV shows like Deep State and Industry.
Archie Renaux
The last time Archie Renaux starred in a coming-of-age space movie was in 2021 with Voyagers and, that same year, he was brought into Netflix’s Shadow and Bone cast as Malyen Oretsev. The fellow British actor also had a role in the Morbius cast, Apple TV+’s The Greatest Beer Run Ever, and back-to-back rom-coms, The Other Zoey and Upgraded.
Spike Fearn
The Alien: Romulus cast member with the least experience in the horror genre is Spike Fearn, unless you want to count his brief appearance as a Gotham City vandal in 2022’s The Batman, which is not without its unsettling moments. He is even better known for the Academy Award-nominated drama, Aftersun, and the British teen drama series, Tell Me Everything.
Aileen Wu
Making her feature film debut in Alien: Romulus is Aileen Wu. Her only other acting credits so far are a couple of short films: 2022’s Closing Doors and Skin from the following year.
The Sequel Takes Place Between The First Two Alien Movies
There is still nothing to suggest that this new film is directly tied to the 1979 original and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens — widely considered the best Alien movie to this day. However, Cailee Spaeny’s comments to Variety claim that Alien: Romulus is set between those classics.
Long before the actor provided that information, 20th Century Studios issued a press release teasing what to expect from the upcoming film’s story. According to the logline, it will follow “a group of young people on a distant world” who will come face to face with the universe’s “most terrifying life form,” which is, of course, one of the all-time greatest horror movie villains: the Xenomorph. Considering the age range of the confirmed cast members, learning Alien: Romulus will be a coming-of-age thriller certainly checks out.
How To Watch Alien: Romulus
As previously established, we still have until August when Alien: Romulus hits theaters, but it will likely be available to stream with a Hulu subscription after the fact. The movie was initially developed as an exclusive for the platform but, somebody must have changed their mind somewhere down the line. We wonder if it had anything to do with the recent success of two great horror movies on Hulu about extraterrestrials that many believe deserved theatrical releases: Prey and No One Will Save You.
What Is Alien: Romulus Rated?
The official MPA rating for Alien: Romulus is R, for bloody, violent content and language. The news should come as no surprise to any fan of the franchise – which only has one PG-13 installment, being 2004’s Alien vs. Predator – and to anyone familiar with the work of the new film’s co-writer and director.
Fede Álvarez Co-Writes And Directs
The filmmaker helming Alien: Romulus is Fede Álvarez, from a screenplay he penned with his longtime professional partner, Rodo Sayagues. Álvarez made his mainstream breakthrough a decade earlier by breathing new life into another beloved horror franchise, the Evil Dead series, with his brutal 2013 reboot. He went on to direct an original thriller called Don’t Breathe in 2016, brought Lisbeth Salander back to U.S. cinema with The Girl in the Spider’s Web two years later, and attempted another sequel to a horror classic as the producer of Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Signed on as a producer of Álvarez’s Alien movie is the director of the original sci-fi movie classic: Ridley Scott. The Academy Award nominated filmmaker — who is also releasing a sequel to Gladiator in 2024 — has already seen an early cut of the new sci-fi thriller and was driven to use an expletive to describe just how great it was, in his opinion. If the filmmaker who was key to the beginning of this phenomenon has high praise for the latest Alien movie, that sounds like a good sign to us.
With a filmmaker as talented as Álvarez bringing the franchise back to the big screen and Emmy-winner Noah Hawley in charge of the aforementioned TV spin-off, now seems like a great time to be an Alien fan.
