Alien: Romulus serves as the ninth installment in the Alien franchise following the premiere of the original Alien in 1979, but the movie’s place on the series’ timeline can be somewhat confusing. The science fiction horror film, directed by Fede Álvarez and co-written by Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues, has been cited as a return to form for the popular franchise. While the previous prequel movies, directed by original creator Ridley Scott, examined the deeper lore and origins of the franchise, Alien: Romulus focuses primarily on character narrative and top-notch monster horror.

The cast of Alien: Romulus includes Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Alien: Romulus is a return to the franchise’s roots, as it seemingly contains many of the same features from the original movie (like facehuggers and pulse rifles). However, the 2024 film takes place decades after the original on the complete Alien timeline, meaning it’s even further separated from Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel movies, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

Alien: Romulus Is Set Between Alien (1979) & Aliens (1986)

Alien: Romulus Is Both A Prequel & Sequel, So It Can Get Confusing

Alien: Romulus‘s story throws off the timeline of the Alien franchise since it takes place between the events of Alien and Aliens. More specifically, the 2024 film is set 20 years after the original 1979 movie, according to an interview Variety conducted with Fede Álvarez. The director explained, “[Alien: Romulus] takes 20 years after the first one, and for me, I don’t see it as upsetting the canon.” 20 years separate the first and ninth installments, and Alien: Romulus also takes place 37 years before the 1986 sequel, Aliens.

Alien Romulus
‘s story will undoubtedly force others to look at the other sequels differently.

The timeline of the Alien movies was confusing even before the release of Alien: Romulus. The order of movie releases stopped being linear once Alien vs. Predator, which transpires before the events of Alien, debuted in 2004. Matters got even more confusing with the 2010s prequels, both of which are set before Alien. On the bright side, the Alien franchise has a definite timeline and chronological order in which to watch all nine films, which can be seen in the table below:

Alien: Romulus’ Timeline Placement Creates Connections To Other Movies

Alien: Romulus Ties The Prequels To The Original Films

One of the inherent flaws of expanding on the mythology of Alien with prequels was that Prometheus and Covenant contributed new ideas that hypothetically should be in place in the original movies. Alien: Romulus helps to fix this issue by essentially bridging the gap between old and new. Fede Álvarez’s movie undoubtedly leans more heavily into the tone of Alien and Aliens, but it incorporates details from the prequel films, resulting in a final product that offers the best of both worlds.

For example, the black goo from Prometheus is a major plot element introduced in the prequel films, offering some scientific explanation for the creation material that results in the Xenomorph. In Alien: Romulus, viewers get to see how the Weyland-Yutani Corp. attempted to utilize the black goo in the aftermath of the original Nostromo incident from Alien. The film directly incorporates this element from the prequels to reinforce its importance in the grand scheme and world-building of the Alien universe.

How Alien: Romulus Changes The Alien Franchise Timeline

Alien: Romulus Changes The Fate Of The Nostromo Ship

Since the 2024 science fiction horror film is set between the first two installments in the Alien franchise, its story forces audiences to look at the other sequels differently. The movie notably shows what happened to the Nostromo after the original Alien movie, reshaping a major premise from Aliens. In the 1986 film, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has built a colony on the world where Ripley and company discovered the Xenomorph.

Ridley Scott, the director of
Alien
,
Prometheus
, and
Alien: Covenant
, served as an executive producer on
Alien: Romulus
.

At the time, this narrative in Aliens suggested that Weyland-Yutani didn’t believe Ripley’s claims about the Xenomoprh, and wasn’t taking her seriously. Now, with new narrative details from Alien: Romulus, it’s certain that the sinister corporation already knew about the Xenomorph from the Nostromo and chose to build a colony on top of a potential alien hive. This changes their dynamic from being ignorant to entirely corrupt and malicious, and it’ll be interesting to see how future movies and shows explore this further.

Source: Variety