Summary

• Alien: Romulus serves as the ninth film in the franchise, bridging the gap between Alien and Aliens.
• The star-studded cast includes Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu.
• Alien: Romulus will throw off the franchise's timeline, taking place 20 years after the original 1979 movie, introducing a new terrifying life form.

Alien: Romulus serves as the ninth installment in the Alien franchise following the premiere of the original Alien in 1979, but the upcoming movie's place on the series' timeline is somewhat confusing. The science fiction horror film, directed by Fede Álvarez and co-written by Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues, will debut more than 38 years following Aliens and marks a highly-anticipated return to the popular franchise. Not much is known about the 2024 movie, but Alien: Romulus' first trailer provided some much-needed information regarding what fans can expect from the film, including its aliens and the magnitude of its horror elements.

The cast of Alien: Romulus includes Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Although their characters are unknown as of the writing of this article, many of these actors play space colonizers who happen upon a horrifying life form while searching through a desolate space station in the upcoming project. Based on the first trailer, Alien: Romulus is a return to the franchise's roots as it seemingly contains many of the same features from the original movie (like facehuggers and pulse rifles). However, the 2024 film takes place decades after the original.

Alien: Romulus Is Set Between Alien (1979) & Aliens (1986)

Alien: Romulus's story throws off the timeline of the Alien franchise since it takes place between the events of Alien and Aliens. More specifically, the 2024 film is set 20 years after the original 1979 movie, according to an interview Variety conducted with Fede Álvarez. The director explained, "[Alien: Romulus] takes 20 years after the first one, and for me, I don't see it as upsetting the canon." Since 20 years separate the first and ninth installments, Alien: Romulus also takes place 37 years before the 1986 sequel, which is set 57 years after Alien.

Alien Romulus's story will undoubtedly force others to look at the other sequels differently.

The timeline of the Alien movies was confusing even before the release of Alien: Romulus. It stopped being linear once Alien vs. Predator, which transpires before the events of Alien, debuted in 2004. On the bright side, the Alien franchise has a definite timeline and chronological order in which to watch all nine films, which is:

How Romulus' Placement In The Timeline Will Affect The Alien Franchise

Since the 2024 science fiction horror film is set between the first two installments in the Alien franchise, its story will undoubtedly force others to look at the other sequels differently. Hopefully, the movie won't rewrite history regarding the events of the films that came before it. But it should include multiple developments that help fill in the blanks concerning the eight other features. Nevertheless, Alien: Romulus's story looks exciting, terrifying, and everything fans have been wanting since Alien was released in 1979.

Ridley Scott, the director of Alien, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant, served as an executive producer on Alien: Romulus.

Source: Variety