SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus!

Alien: Romulus makes a major reveal about what happened to Ellen Ripley after the original movie, but it creates even more questions that I now need answers to. I really enjoyed Alien: Romulus and saw it as a total return to form for the franchise. The many references to previous Alien movies, combined with the mythology-building aspects of Ridley Scott's prequels, mixed with altogether new elements, for the most part, worked like a charm.

An Ellen Ripley Easter egg from Alien: Romulus was confirmed in a recent interview with Weta VFX Supervisor Daniel Macarin for CinemaBlend, who shared the behind-the-scenes process of making the new movie. In the interview, he provided clarification for one small detail viewers had already begun to notice: that Ripley's shuttle from the end of Alien can be seen in Romulus, drifting away from the Renaissance space station. Now that it's been confirmed that this was Ripley's ship, I'm slightly confused about what Weyland-Yutani's team was doing.

Weyland Keeping Ripley In Cryostasis During Alien: Romulus Doesn't Make Sense

Why Wouldn't The Scientists Have Waken Ripley Up For Questioning/Experiments?

One of the first major Alien: Romulus lore reveals is that Weyland-Yutani has found the remains of the Nostromo and has been sorting through the wreckage. The original Xenomorph was also taken and brought aboard the Renaissance for testing. With all of that in mind, what I can't understand is why Ripley would have been kept in Cryostasis. It seems like gathering information from the sole survivor of such an incident would be beyond important for the Renaissance science team's research.

Of course, Weyland-Yutani is primarily interested in the Xenomorph. As we know, they're likely still working under the initiative of Peter Weyland and are hoping to use the Prometheus to develop some life-enhancing substance. But, the entire team ends up massacred by what they're studying, and it begs the question of why they wouldn't have woken up Ripley. She was the only person available who had experience with these aliens and could have prevented the situation. Or, a more sinister idea is that they could have run experiments on her.

There's Only 1 Explanation For Weyland Letting Ripley Live & It's Still Bad

They Could Have Found Ripley Just Before The Ship Got Massacred

With all of this in mind, the only explanation I can think of is the station had only just found Ripley's ship right before everything went downhill, and they were all killed before they could wake her. However, this seems all too convenient and lucky for Ripley. I appreciate Alien: Romulus' references and callbacks, but it feels important in a franchise like Alien to monitor these things carefully and justify its Easter eggs narratively, especially given how much flack the film series already gets for its timeline.

Sources: CinemaBlend