The following contains spoilers for Alien: Romulus, now playing in theaters
Summary
Alien: Romulusincludes several clever easter eggs and references to the history of theAlienfranchise. Debuting forty-five years ago before becoming a fixture of the sci-fi and horror genres,Alienhas left an undeniable impact on pop culture. The latest film in the series,Alien: Romulus, seems aware of that history and goes out of its way to reference and recreate elements of the classicRidley Scott’s firstAlienfilm. However, that’s far from the only wayAlien: Romulusreferences the history of the series.
ThroughoutAlien: Romulus, various details, revelations, and easter eggs connect the new film to everything fromAliensandPrometheusto the expanded universe of video games. Some of these easter eggs are just that, sly little allusions to the history of the series. Others are more concrete connections that help flesh out the history of the franchise in unexpected ways. Here are all the best easter eggs and references hidden throughout the events and (especially)the ending ofAlien: Romulus.
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11Rook Brings Back Ash
Rook Is Very Similar ToAlien’s Ash, By Design
One of the biggest direct connections betweenAlien: Romulusand previous entries in the series is the introduction ofRook, who is directly similar to Ash fromAlien. Played by Ian Holm, Ash was a crew member of the Nostromo who was eventually revealed to be an android sent by the Weyland-Yutani to assist in their “interests,” including abandoning the crew to die while procuring the Xenomorph for the company.Rook plays a similar role inAlien: Romulus. He does his best to ensure that the serum derived form the Xenomorph’s DNA is safely brought off the station.
Daniel Betts plays Rook, butthe character is clearly modeled after Ash, who has been given a similar appearance and voice to the first film’s villain. In-universe, this is explained by the pair being from the same robotic line. It also creates a deeper sense of continuity with the original film. Rook being severely damaged but still operational also reflects how many other robots in the series, like Ash inAlienand Bishop inAliens, suffered similar fates.
10Going Through The Vents (Again)
Alien: RomulusRecreats Two Notable Trips Through The Vents
Frequently in theAlienseries,characters will be forced to traverse through ventson spaceships and in space stations. InAlien, Dallas' investigation into the creature stalking through his ship led him into the vents of the vessel. Meanwhile, one of the most memorably horrifying shots inAlienswas witnessing an entire pack of Xenomorphs moving through the vents toward the survivors.
Both of these shots are effectively recreated inAlien: Romulus, strengthening the tonal connections between the films by recreating their visuals. Upon arriving on the station, the trio of Andy, Tyler, and Bjorn traverse through the vents. Later in the film, Xenomorphs are seen moving through them to catch up to the humans. It’s a quick visual cue that connects to the previous films in the series and how they portray the Xenomorph attacks.
9The Black Goo Connects Alien To Promtehtus
The Sins Of The Engineers Still Haunt Humanity
One of the big plot points ofAlien: Romulusis the introduction of a new modified compound. The serum, derived from the DNA of the Xenomorph, is believed to be the key to improving humanity on a physical level by evolving them.The collected element from the Xenomorph is reminiscent of the black goo fromPrometheusandAlien: Covenant, a mysterious substance that the Engineers were able to use in different forms.
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Although it isn’t exactly the same goo from the prior films, the substance’s connection to the Xenomorph precursors was evident in the experiments conducted by the villainous synthetic android, David.The film even reinforces this connection by playing a musical cue fromPrometheus. This is one of the biggest connections betweenAlien: Romulusand the rest of the series, as it reveals how the otherwise seemingly disparate events come together onthe completeAlientimeline.
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8Rook’s Explanation References Alien & Alien: Covenant
Alien: RomulusDirectly References A Deceased Crew Member From The Nostromo
Once Rook has been rediscovered and reactivated, he ends up revealing a lot of the history that made the substance possible. This includes references to multiple films in the series. Rook reveals that there was only one survivor of the Nostromo, confirming the Weyland-Yutani company knows about the events ofAlien. This explanation includes a brief shot of a computer monitor,revealing a shot of Lambert’s personnel file.
Played by Veronica Cartwright, Lambert was one of the crew members of the Nostromo inAlien. Although she survived much of the film, she was eventually cornered by the Xenomorph while trying to reach the escape pod and was killed. On top of that,Rook’s explanation also uses holograms to recreate the “Steatite Ampules,“containers used inAlien: Covenantto contain the black goo. These connections reinforce the threads between the variousAlienfilms, even asAlien: Romulusmakes some minor retcons to elements ofAlien: Covenant.
7The Final Fate Of The Nostromo
Alien: RomulusReveals What Happened To The Remains Of The Nostromo
The Nostromo’s wreckage being rediscovered plays a major role inAlien: Romulus' backstory, directly connecting the first and latest entries in the series. The Nostromo was the setting of the firstAlien, a small mining ship that discovered a distress beacon in the vastness of space. Investigating it set off the events of the film and much of the rest of the series.
WhileAliensrevealed that Ripley was eventually rediscovered decades later,Alien: Romulusconfirmed the Nostromo was destroyed twenty years before the events of the new film. Although the Nostromo was successfully self-destructed, the Xenomorph was able to cocoon itself within the wreckage and actually survived long enough to be rediscovered by the Weyland-Yutani company at some point between the two films.This connection toAliensets up the events ofAlien: Romulus.
6Colonial Marine Pulse Rifles
The Colonial Marines became one of the most consistent elements of the expandedAlienfranchise after they were introduced inAliens. Although there are no Marines inAlien: Romulus, their presence can be felt in the film thanks tothe pulse rifles Andy eventually gives to Rain and Tylerto help protect themselves from the Xenomorphs. Tyler reveals these are in fact the same rifles used by the Marines of their era.
Notably, they do bear some differences from the rifles used in (the chronologically subsequent)Aliens. Although the weapons aren’t the exact same model used inAliens, they prove just as effective at shooting down the Xenomorphs.The scene of Tyler showing Rain how to use a pulse rifled is also framed similarly to Hicks teaches Ripley to use one inAliens. This reflects how both films placed the female character in the lead role, and played on the romantic tension between both couples.
5Romulus Has The Same Emergency Phones As Alien: Isolation
No Easy Save Points
One ofAlien: Romulus' most inventive references isn’t even to one of the films, but rather a video game.Alien: Isolationtakes place in betweenAlienandAliens, and focuses on Ripley’s daughter Amanda trying to survive an encounter with a Xenomorph (as well as other threats) on a space station. Throughout the game,players could use emergency phones known as “Registration Points” as save points.
These same phones can be seen throughout the space station inAlien: Romulus, and the characters even use one while trapped on the space station to communicate. According to an interview betweenGames Radarand director Fede Álvarez, the phones can be spotted just before the film takes another dark turn,a direct reference to how the save points would appear inAlien: Isolationright before a dangerous set-piece.
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4"Get Away From Her, You Bitch”
Andy Gets To Say One Of The Series' Most Memorable Lines
One of the most iconic lines of dialogue in theAlienfranchise comes at the conclusion ofAliens, and it’s recreated inAlien: Romulus. When the Queen Xenomorph sneaks onto the fleeing ship carrying Ripley and the others to safety, the creature dispatches Bishop and advances on Newt. Stepping into a loader exo-suit,Ripley yells “get away from her, you bitch” and attacks the creature.
A similar moment happens inAlien: Romuluswhen a Xenomorph corners Rain in an elevator shaft and moves in for the kill. Catching the pulse rifle and bringing the Xenomorph down to the ground with a series of shots,Andy repeats the line to the now-dead Xenomorph. It’s a fun way to reference one of the most memorable beats in the iconic sequel and still fit it into the overall story ofAlien: Romulus, cementing Andy’s protective love for his “sister,” Rain by having him showcase the same inner resolve as Ripley.
3The Alien Hybrid Sets Up Alien: Resurrection
Alien: RomulusIsn’t The First Time The Series Fused A Human With A Xenomorph
The third act ofAlien: Romulusintroduces a horrifying new Xenomorph/Human hybrid. This is the result of Weyland-Yutani’s efforts to create a means by which they can forcibly “evolve” humanity to survive the perils of space travel and colonization. This underscores their efforts in other films to procure a Xenomorph to experiment on, withRook confirming their plans to modify humans with Xenomorph elements.
This quietly givesAlien: Romulusa thematic connectionAlien: Resurrection, which is technically the last entry in the series chronologically. That film largely focuses on a clone of Ripley, who has been created with a mixture of human and Xenomorph DNA. Although the Hybrid isn’t as advanced as Ripley 8, they highlight the consistent motivations at the heart of the villainous corporation, and how even centuries later they’re trying to find ways to fuse humans with Xenomorphs.
2How To Defeat An Alien
A Tried And True Method
BothAlienandAlien: Romulusend on a similar beat, with their matching heroes even going through similar efforts to bring down the deadly monster chasing after them. In bothAlienandAlien: Romulus, Ripley and Rain are forced to confront an alien. Both don similar space suits and strap themselves to the ship, before exposing the creature to the vacuum of space. Despite using the same strategy though, both instances have enough unique elements to make them stand out from one another.
In both cases,the creature initially survives the attemptbut is eventually knocked off the ship and left to die in space. However, the Xenomorph is not able to reach Ripley once it’s ejected. The hybrid ofAlien: Romulusactually makes it back to Rain and even cracks her visor before it’s eventually knocked off. It’s also worth noting that while the Xenomorph Hybrid was shown to be a durable creature, Rain’s efforts severely injured the creature in a way that the original film didn’t seem to showcase.
