Moviegoers taking in the new Alien: Romulus were in for quite a few jump scares and surprises as director Fede Alvarez brought one of sci-fi’s best properties back to the big screen on Friday, August 16. One of those surprises came in the form of a cameo from an unexpected character.
[Warning: spoilers for Alien: Romulus follow]
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One of the massive twists of the original 1979 Alien was the reveal that Ash, played by the late Ian Holm, was an android. Not only was he not human, he was also sabotaging the crew in a plot to deliver the titular alien to the nefarious Weyland-Yutani corporation.
An android model — or rather half of one — similar to Ash plays a large part in Romulus. This time going by Rook, the character has Holm’s likeness despite the Lord of the Rings actor passing in 2020. This appears to be done similarly to how Gareth Edwards “brought back” Governor Tarkin, previously played by Peter Cushing, in Rogue One.
The technique seemingly used actor Daniel Betts as the “facial and vocal performance” of Rook, while Ian Holm is listed as the “facial and vocal reference” for the Science Officer. Betts’ performance would then be digitally meshed with Holm’s likeness for the finished product.
It’s likely more will come out about how this was fully executed now that the movie has been released, but the utilization of his likeness has already garnered some criticism (again, much like Cushing’s was for Rogue One). Some fans have wondered why Lance Henriksen — the actor behind Bishop, the synthetic human in 1986’s Aliens — wasn’t used instead.
Alien: Romulus is in theaters now.
