Alien: Romulus is set to start a new era of the long-standing sci-fi horror franchise. The new film is helmed by Fede Álvarez, and the vibe at its San Diego Comic-Con panel could only be described as one thing: a return to form. The panel kicked off with an entire scene from the upcoming film, showing the central team as they examine an abandoned ship. What transpired was every reassurance fans needed that the franchise is in safe hands — Alien: Romulus may be the grand reset Alien needs.
In a crowded Hall H, writer/director Fede Alvarez and stars Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, and Spike Fearn brought three different clips for fans — and they show snippets of every stage of this movie, from the cautiously creepy scares to the brutal deaths.
A Sneak Peek of Alien: Romulus
The first clip shows the crew led by Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) investigating what looks to be an incubator for xenomorphs filled knee-deep with water. Navarro (Aileen Wu) finds an “X-Ray Torch” — a portable device that can show what’s happening beneath the skin. Synthetic Andy is keeping watch, but something goes wrong. Cain hands Tyler (Archie Renaux) and Bjorn (Spike Fearn) a device to reboot him, but he takes a minute to reboot.
Meanwhile, a facehugger gets loose and starts attacking Tyler and Bjorn. Andy snaps back to life at the perfect moment and grabs the alien by the tail moments before it's about to attack Tyler and throws it at the wall, but countless more hatch and attack the crew who just manage to escape, before one attacks Navarro.
The second scene follows Navarro (Aileen Wu) as she is on an escape pod getting away from the actual ship with Kay (Isabela Merced). As she pilots the pod away from the ship, she starts feeling sick. She motions to Kay to hand her her backpack, and she pulls out the X-Ray Torch from the first clip and holds it up to her chest. Lo and behold, there’s a chestburster rummaging through her lungs.
As she collapses into Kay’s arms, she murmurs, “Please don’t let me die,” before the alien bursts out of her chest. The scene was shown in a truncated form in the final trailer, but it packs a far bigger punch in context.
The final clip shows Rain and Bjorn — possibly the last survivors of this crew — as they try to escape for good. Bjorn subdues a facehugger with a cattle prod, but then we see glimpses of what everyone has been waiting for: a fully grown xenomorph. Thanks to Álvarez’s dedication to physical effects, it looks amazing.
A New Direction for the Franchise
But don’t take these clips at face value. “Some of these scenes, I cut them in a misleading way,” Fede Álvarez told the crowd. “I cut them differently than the movie. So even if you see this, when you see the movie, it’ll be slightly different. I omit things.”
No matter how “misleading” those clips are, it’s clear that this movie is simultaneously honoring its roots while innovating in an entirely new direction. “It’s called Romulus because it’s really about siblinghood,” Álvarez said. “This is the first time we see people who are really really close to each other and really love each other.”
Still, he reassures the fans, it’s an Alien movie. “It also explores themes from the original movies: that psychosexual fucked-up-ness.” So rest assured, there’s room for sentimentality and some truly twisted action.
