Cover your mouths, everyone – a fresh batch of those bastard facehuggers is unleashed in the visceral first trailer for Alien: Romulus, the long-awaited next film in the legendary sci-fi horror franchise. Following Ridley Scott’s flawed but ambitious duology of Prometheus and Alien Covenant (which really could have done with a third and final chapter), the Xenomorph series is heading into a new direction with filmmaker Fede Álvarez. And as anyone who’s seen Don’t Breathe or his 2013 take on Evil Dead will know, the man does not hold back. That’s true, too, for this first Romulus teaser, which really does look like it’ll be another ‘in space, nobody can hear you scream’ situation. Check it out here:
As the accompanying blurb explains, this is a back-to-basics approach for Alien – a bunch of space bods, set upon by cinema’s cruellest creature, fighting for survival. And there’s strong stuff even in this initial teaser: that eerie tracking shot that descends into bloody chaos; those terrifying moments of ‘huggers-a-leaping; the upsetting sight of someone pulling a Xenomorph appendage out of their throat (steady); and a brief glimpse of the fully-grown creature, still as scary as it was in the ‘70s. All that, plus we end on a tantalising shot of Cailee Spaeny wielding a space-gun – clearly a character in the legendary Ripley mould. We’ll take more of all this, please.
The film – which is said to be set between the events of Alien and Aliens – also stars Rye Lane’s David Jonsson, Instant Family’s Isabela Merced, and Shadow & Bone’s Archie Renaux, as well as Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu. The film is penned by Álvarez, along with his regular collaborator Rodo Sayagues, while Ridley Scott produces. Check out the poster here:
If the film lives up to this teaser, the Alien franchise could be back in business – and beyond whatever Álvarez has cooked up, Noah Hawley has also been hard at work on his own Alien streaming series set several decades before the original film, expected to come to Hulu (and presumably Disney+) in 2025. That’s the thing with the perfect organism – it just keeps evolving. Alien: Romulus comes to UK cinemas from 16 August.