Summary

• Alien: Romulus aims to bring back the simple thrills of the original Alien by focusing on horror and practical FX over CGI.
• The movie may introduce new Xenomorph variants to the franchise, following in the footsteps of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.
• Fede Alvarez's film could succeed where earlier attempts failed in creating terrifying new alien monsters.

As best of the Alien movies. Michael Fassbender’s David is one of the franchise’s most memorable characters and the actor ironically brings a level of complex humanity to the steely-eyed android. The ing casts of both movies are solid, with stars like Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, and Katherine Waterston all making an impression.

However, a lot of the most ambitious swings that Scott’s prequels made were unfortunate misses. Neither Prometheus nor Alien: Covenant came close to recapturing the intense atmosphere of Scott’s original 1979 masterpiece Alien and this was due in large part to their talky, pseudo-philosophical scripts. In contrast, director Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus seems set to take the franchise back to basics. Set in the years between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus sees a group of ill-fated young space explorers stumble across more than they bargained for while scavenging the abandoned remains of the titular Romulus space station.

Alien: Romulus May Introduce More New Xenomorph Variants

Prometheus And Alien: Covenant Featured The Deacon And David’s Neomorphs

A big part of Alien: Romulus’s appeal is the movie’s promise to bring back the simple thrills of Alien and Aliens. Despite this, one comment from its director implies the movie may revive an experimental element of the prequels. In a new featurette, Alvarez talks about building “Every creature” with practical FX instead of relying heavily on CGI. This comment implies that there are multiple creatures in the movie, meaning Alien: Romulus may feature new variants on the classic Xenomorph design. Both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant attempted to pull this off, but the results were divisive, to say the least.

Prometheus introduced the Deacon, a proto-Xenomorph that was skinnier than the original alien, smaller, and blue. Alien: Covenant replaced the Deacon with David’s various Neomorphs, experiments that he cooked up while trying to fine-tune the Xenomorph as a biological weapon. Alien: Romulus could repeat the prequels’ mistake by failing to give these Neomorphs the screen time they deserve, but this is unlikely for one reason. Alvarez has pointedly described Alien: Romulus as a return to the franchise's original straightforward horror roots, meaning any new monsters the movie introduces won’t be drowned out by interminably complex franchise lore.

Alien: Romulus's Xenomorph Variants Could Be Better Than The Neomorphs

Prometheus and Alien: Covenant's New Monsters Never Got To Shine

Since both Alien prequels were so talky and plot-driven, their new monsters felt like an afterthought. Alvarez's movie is a classic creature feature, meaning new Xenomorphs would likely get more screen time than their prequel predecessors. Alien: Romulus’s Xenomorph variants could be a great addition to the franchise if, like the Alien Queen first introduced in Aliens, they tell viewers more about the titular threat. Alien kept the Xenomorph a mystery for much of its runtime, but Aliens managed to make the monster even scarier by revealing where it came from and introducing its mean mother.

In the trailer, Alien: Romulus’s heroes can be seen entering a lab where various face huggers are stored in containment units.

Since Alien: Romulus is exploring the homeworld of the human heroes of the series, it is clear that the sequel is already attempting to expand on its predecessors. As a result, it would make sense for the sequel to introduce more variants of the Xenomorph. Alvarez’s comment isn’t the only evidence of this. In the trailer, Alien: Romulus’s heroes can be seen entering a lab where various face huggers are stored in containment units. This could be because the Weyland Yutani Corporation was experimenting on them, which would justify the existence of new variants with different appearances and powers.

Alien: Romulus's New Monsters Will Still Be Hard to Pull Off

Xenomorph Variants Failed Even Before Ridley Scott’s Prequels

Although it would be cool to see a new spin on the famous monster, Alien: Romulus will have a hard time pulling off this feat. The Alien franchise’s earlier Xenomorph variants were almost universally disliked even before Scott’s prequels toyed with the formula. Alien: Resurrection’s Newborn and Alien Vs Predator: Requiem’s Predalien didn't work even though they avoided the plot-heavy problems of Scott’s prequels, mostly because the creature designs themselves were unwieldy and unscary. The Newborn’s appearance was hilariously goofy and oddly pathetic, while the Predalien was too bulky to seem threatening as the monster blundered from scene to scene.

Although the franchise has not been able to make the Xenomorph scarier since 1986’s Aliens, the Alien Queen’s terrifying appearance proves that this feat is far from impossible.

However, Alvarez should be able to avoid this issue given how scary the redesigned Deadites were in his Evil Dead reboot from 2013. With its killer alien Calvin, 2017’s underrated sci-fi horror Life proved that an original alien monster could be genuinely threatening and memorable even if it didn't share any DNA with the Xenomorph. Although the franchise has not been able to make the Xenomorph scarier since 1986’s Aliens, the Alien Queen’s terrifying appearance proves that this achievement is far from impossible. Thus, Alien: Romulus’s creators shouldn’t be put off by the franchise’s uneven history.

Fede Alvarez’s Comments May Not Mean New Xenomorph Variants

Alien: Romulus May Reintroduce The Alien Queen

It is important to note that Alvarez may not have been hinting at a new Xenomorph variant since there are a few other explanations for his comment. If Alien: Romulus were to bring back the Alien Queen, then “Every creature” may mean the face huggers, the chest-burster, the Xenomorph, and the Alien Queen. If this is the case, the movie won't be introducing any new monsters after all, but would instead be reintroducing a classic monster viewers haven’t seen in years. Alien: Romulus’s twists remain a mystery, so there’s no way of knowing what the movie’s heroes will face.

If Alien: Romulus does introduce new versions of the Xenomorph, its singular focus on the horror elements of the franchise means these monsters are likely to be more successful than earlier attempts.

Alien: Romulus may include a lone Xenomorph or an entire hive of new creatures as its villain. The movie’s promotional materials have not yet given away its main monsters and these are likely to remain shrouded in secrecy until its August release. If Alien: Romulus does introduce new versions of the Xenomorph, its singular focus on the horror elements of the franchise means these monsters are likely to be more successful than earlier attempts. However, even if Alien: Romulus features the same creature design as earlier Alien movies, it still seems set to be a terrifying sci-fi horror thrill ride.