”Priscilla” actress Cailee Spaeny appeared at the Gotham Awards and, during a red-carpet interview, spoke about one of her upcoming films — Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus.”
We know that Noah Hawley’s upcoming “Alien” FX series takes place decades before the original “Alien” and around the time of the events in “Prometheus”. However, according to Spaeny, ‘Romulus’ takes place between “Alien” and “Aliens,” a time when Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) was adrift in cryosleep (via Variety):
It’s supposed to slot in between the first movie and the second movie. They brought the same team from ‘Aliens,’ the James Cameron film. The same people who built those xenomorphs actually came on and built ours. So getting to see the original design with the original people who have been working on these films for 45-plus years and has been so much of their life has been really incredible.
Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus” wrapped production in Hungary this past summer. It was shooting for around four months. Did we really need another ‘Alien’ movie? Of course not. On paper, Alvarez’s film doesn’t sound as ambitious as, say, “Prometheus.” Based on what we know so far, it’ll basically be Gen-Z vs the Xenomorph.
A group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
At least Alvarez got Ridley Scott’s endorsement. Earlier in the summer, AVP Galaxy had reported that Alvarez sent an early director’s cut of “Alien: Romulus” for Scott to screen. Scott is a harsh critic, Alvarez knew it, and it turns out Scott loved the film (“it’s f*cking great”).
This is the seventh film of the never ending franchise, and it stars a young batch of actors — Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn …
The ‘Alien’ saga, which began in 1979 with Ridley Scott's film, and Sigourney Weaver in the lead, has had many sequels over the years. Álvarez, best known for the excellent “Don't Breathe” and the “Evil Dead” remake, will try to follow in the footsteps of Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
“Alien: Romulus” arrives in theaters on August 16, 2024. This is a co-production between 20th Century Studios and Scott Free Productions.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.