The Alien franchise has given fans plenty of surprises—some exciting, some shocking. With prequels, sequels, and spin-offs, the universe keeps expanding, introducing new twists that add to the story Ridley Scott started in 1979. The latest film, Alien: Romulus (2024), directed by Fede Álvarez, took the horror to another level. The last 20 minutes introduced a terrifying human-xenomorph hybrid, bringing a fear no one saw coming. But if Álvarez had his way from the beginning, the entire movie would have been a massive, jaw-dropping surprise.
Recently, Collider held a special IMAX screening of Alien: Romulus, followed by a Q&A session. Steve Weintraub hosted the discussion, which featured Álvarez, VFX Supervisor Eric Barbra, and Wētā FX’s Dan Macarin. The event highlighted the film’s Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects and celebrated the team behind its stunning visuals.
While discussing the possibility of making a new Alien vs. Predator movie, Fede Álvarez shared an exciting detail about his original vision for Alien: Romulus’ biggest twist. He revealed that talks about his Alien movie started back in 2017 when Ridley Scott was working on Alien: Covenant. Álvarez, known for Don’t Breathe, hinted that his early ideas could have made the film’s surprises even bigger.
We started talking about this film when Ridley was doing Covenant. That’s when they started talking with Michael Schaefer, who was his right hand at the time. When I pitched this story when they asked me what kind of movie I’d do, what I pitched at the time was, ‘Why don’t we do it as a spin-off? We don’t say Alien. We just put any random science fiction title.
We show some kids and some planets somewhere…’ It was this whole thing, ‘And then suddenly they walk into a room, and there’s a fucking egg.’ Imagine that audience at SXSW finding out on opening night, 30 minutes into the movie, that you’re watching an Alien movie. That was the original plan.
The idea of being thrown into an Alien movie without knowing it sounds incredible, but could Fede Álvarez actually make it work? From a studio’s perspective, it’s much easier to attract audiences with a well-known franchise than with a brand-new sci-fi movie.
Plus, keeping something this big a secret wouldn’t be easy. However, Álvarez believes he pulled off something just as surprising in Alien: Romulus. He pointed to the unexpected appearance of Ian Holm’s android character, Rook, as proof that such a twist could work.
The only way I disagree is Rook in this movie was something that we kept as a secret until it was the last second. Most of you, hopefully, didn’t know until you went in on opening night. Early on, this dude had said, ‘It’s impossible. People will know. There will be screenings.’ But then the few screenings we did before the movie, I begged everybody, ‘Please do not ruin it for everybody else. Do not post about Ian Holm being in the film.’ I do this because I want people to be there in the audience and go, ‘Oh, fucking hell, it’s Ian Holm!’ You rob them of that moment if they read it already online that he’s going to be in the film.
Fede Álvarez’s first Alien movie may not have been a secret, but he still has time to pull off an even bigger surprise. He’s currently working on a sequel with 20th Century Studios and has even shown interest in making a hidden Alien vs. Predator movie.