Summary
Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus’s trailers
It certainly seems likeAlien: Romulushas given away a lot of pivotal character deaths well before the movie’s release, but one fan theory posits that the upcomingAlienreboot has a secret plan up its sleeve.TheAlienmoviesmight seem like brutal bloodbaths, but their body counts aren’t always as high as viewers may assume. Admittedly,AliensandAlien 3each racked up a kill count in the teens, but the original movie only killed off five human characters. Thus, it’s tough to tell how many characters theupcoming franchise rebootAlien: Romuluswill kill off.
Director Fede Alvarez made a name for himself as a ruthless horror director, with both his 2013Evil Deadreboot and 2016’sDon’t Breatheincluding some memorably nasty deaths. However, those movies also featured very small casts, with both taking place largely in lone locations and centering on tiny groups of isolated characters. Judging byAlien: Romulus’s trailers, the new movie in the series will follow suit.The movie has six named characters, one of whom is an android. Already, the trailers have seemingly revealed two of their deaths, prompting a compelling fan theory to arise.
Every Type Of Xenomorph In The Alien Franchise Explained
The Xenomorph is one of the most iconic creatures in Science Fiction, which has led to several variations of the alien throughout various media.
Alien: Romulus Is Hiding Secret Characters — Theory Explained
Alien’s Franchise Reboot Could Reveal Unexpected Survivors
If the space station does house human survivors, then viewers have no idea how big the cast really is and no idea how many potential victims there are for the Xenomorph.
Alien: Romulusfollows a group of young, inexperienced scavengers who explore the titular abandoned space station only to discover face huggers, Xenomorphs, and all manner of other nasty surprises lying in wait. There are five human characters and one android in the reboot’s small party of explorers, butit would make perfect sense forAlien: Romulusto reveal living survivors on its supposedly derelict station. This would be a solid twist that would add to the cast list while also ensuring that the Xenomorph wasn’t the only issue the young scavengers had to deal with throughout the movie’s story.
The trailers have given away everything fromthe meaning ofAlien: Romulus’ titleto the fates of Aileen Wu’s Navarro and Spike Fearn’s Bjorn, both of whom are attacked by face huggers in the teasers. This seems like a lot of plot to give away early on but, if the space station does house human survivors, then viewers have no idea how big the cast really is and no idea how many potential victims there are for the Xenomorph.It is hard to tell whether these survivors would view the scavengers as a threat or salvationfrom their Xenomorph infestation.
Alien: Romulus Has Given Away Too Many Deaths Already
Alien: Romulus’s Trailers Show Navarro and Bjorn’s Fates
Viewers can already be pretty certain that Navarro and Bjorn are going to die, while the fate of David Jonsson’s Andy is less tense since he is an android.
The survivors could be heroic or villainous depending on how they react to the cast’s arrival, but they also could just be cannon fodder to increaseAlien: Romulus’s body count and shock factor.Alien: Romulus’s trailer teases numerous Xenomorphs, but the movie doesn’t seem to need more than one monster to rip through its tiny cast list, judging by the trailers. Viewers can already be pretty certain that Navarro and Bjorn are going to die, while the fate of David Jonsson’s Andy is less tense since he is an android. This leaves few characters for viewers to get invested in.
One of the remaining characters is Cailee Spaeny’s Rain, who is very clearly set up as the Ripley replacement and heroine. That leaves only two characters whose fates viewers can’t reasonably guess, unlessAlien: Romulusis hiding something.Alien: Romulusintroducing secret survivors would prove the trailers weren’t as spoiler-heavy as they seemed, which aligns with comments Alvarez made onThe Movie Podcast. There, the director said he resents trailers that spoil movies. This might be a cryptic hint thatAlien: Romulushas more secrets, and characters, up its sleeve than its marketing materials have revealed so far.
Alien: Romulus’s Director’s Other Horror Movies Nailed Their Small Cast
Fede Alvarez’s Earlier Horror Movies Utilized This Approach
Evil Dead2013 andDon’t Breatheboth had tiny casts and this made each death progressively more intense, and the two movies even hinted at some major deaths in the trailers.
One reason to believe thatAlien: Romuluswill add a handful of secondary supporting characters into its cast to feed the Xenomorph is 2022’sTexas Chainsaw Massacrereboot. Alvarez is credited with the story for that reboot which dumped a literal busload of nameless extras into its small-town setting to beef up Leatherface’s body count. This would also followanAlienfranchise patternas Ridley Scott’sAlienprequels featured far more deaths than the original movie. That said, Alvarez’s own directorial efforts seem to belie the theory since they are typically very subdued when it comes to cast size.
Evil Dead2013 andDon’t Breatheboth had tiny casts and this made each death progressively more intense, and the two movies even hinted at some major deaths in the trailers. Admittedly, neither earlier movie gave away quite as much asAlien: Romulusseems to have done. However,Alien: Romulusmay genuinely have already revealed two of its six deaths in the trailer, and the movie might not have any further secrets to divulge upon its release. While potentially disappointing, this would at least be better than another possible explanation for the trailers seemingly spoiling major death scenes.
Alien: Romulus’s Trailer Deaths Are Hopefully Not Fake-Outs
Navarro And Bjorn’s Trailer Deaths Shouldn’t Be Fake-Outs
IfAlien: Romulusrevealed that Navarro or Bjorn “Died” while in a virtual reality simulator, this would imply that the scavengers were warned about the Xenomorphs in advance, knew about face huggers, and were prepared for their ordeal.
Theone thing thatAlien: Romulusdefinitely should not do is reveal that the trailer’s deaths were somehow fakeas part of an alternate reality simulator. Revealing that they only died in a simulation, a laStar Trek’s holodeck orJason X’s holographic game sequence, would be a corny twist that seasoned sci-fi viewers could spot from a mile away. Not only is this overly familiar reveal tired, but it also would mean that the characters knew about face huggers and Xenomorphs before entering the Romulus station. Crucially, this would sap the movie’s monster reveal of its impact.
IfAlien: Romulusrevealed that Navarro or Bjorn “died” while in a virtual reality simulator, this would imply that the scavengers were warned about the Xenomorphs in advance, knew about face huggers, and were prepared for their ordeal. This would sap more of all its tension since the entire point of the reboot’s younger cast is that they are inexperienced and feckless.Alien: Romulusrisks reviving aPrometheuscriticismwith characters who are too clueless, but this would be better than ones who are too prepared. That revelation would truly robAlien: Romulusof its much-needed narrative tension.
