How Alien: Romulus Built Its Story Around A Deleted Scene From James Cameron's Aliens

One of Alien: Romulus' strongest offerings is its great cast, made up of a group of young people who have spent their lives working in a Weyland-Yutani colony. The film obviously is meant to elicit the feelings of the original Alien movies, being a film about a group of people trying to survive attacks from a Xenomorph in outer space, but in particular, there is one deleted scene from Aliens that served as the inspiration for the entire movie.

Alien: Romulus' Characters Call Back To The Kids In An Aliens' Deleted Scene

The Scene Was Cut From The Special Edition Of Aliens

In the extras for Alien: Romulus, director Fede Álvarez says that the younger characters present in Romulus were directly inspired by a deleted scene from Aliens' special edition, wherein two Weyland-Yutani employees discuss their work before shooing away a group of children playing around in the colony where they're not supposed to. The Alien franchise has plenty of great deleted scenes, and though this one mostly flew under the radar, Álvarez wondered what would eventually happen to kids who had to grow up in a small colony like that, being forced to run around and play in dangerous metal hallways.

While the kids were only briefly shown in the Aliens deleted scene, and while they were never brought up again, their existence was certainly enough to raise plenty of questions about the franchise, and using Alien: Romulus to give more of a glimpse into life for those normal people living under the heel of Weyland-Yutani is a great way to expand the universe. Taking inspiration from an obscure deleted scene from Aliens shows how reverential the creators are to the original, even if sometimes Romulus has too many references and Easter eggs.

Alien: Romulus Shows What Could Have Happened To Newt If She Survived In A Colony

Newt's Life Could Have Been Ruined In A Different Way

In Aliens, Ripley finds Newt as the sole remaining inhabitant of a Weyland-Yutani colony that was ravaged by a group of Xenomorphs. They attempt to survive the Xenomorph incursion, and it ultimately ends with Ripley and Newt heading back to Earth as two of the few survivors of the mission. However, what happens in Alien: Romulus is indicative of the bleak and miserable fate that could've befallen Newt if her colony hadn't been destroyed. The people in Jackson's Star are living in squalor, spending years working in awful conditions, hoping to leave for a better place, which, for Rain and Andy, is Yvaga III.

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While barely surviving an attack by a Xenomorph queen is certainly no picnic, the alternative shown doesn't seem to be all that much better. If Newt's colony wasn't attacked, the chances that she would've died in the mines or some other, equally dangerous job is quite high. Rain and Bjorn's parents were killed from their work in the mines, and it seemed clear that most colonists were destined to end up there no matter what. Alien: Romulus shows that living in the Wey-Yu colonies is harsh and unforgiving, and in doing so, gives a glimpse into what life could've been for Newt.

Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.

Director Fede Alvarez

Cast Cailee Spaeny , David Jonsson , Archie Renaux , Isabela Merced , Spike Fearn , Aileen Wu , Rosie Ede , Soma Simon , Bence Okeke , Viktor Orizu , Robert Bobroczkyi , Trevor Newlin , Annemarie Griggs , Daniel Betts