The Biggest Rumor About Alien: Romulus Isn't True, Thankfully

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for "Alien: Romulus."

"Alien: Romulus" brings us a new chapter in the beloved sci-fi horror franchise full of deadly Xenomorphs, black goo, and the terror of space — where no one can hear you scream. However, unlike "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant," the latest installment doesn't take place before Ridley Scott's original 1979 classic "Alien" starring Sigourney Weaver. Instead, "Romulus" takes place 20 years after the events of the original "Alien," placing it nearly four decades before the timeline of James Cameron's sequel "Aliens," which unfolds 57 years after "Alien." Everyone on the same page?

Because of the proximity "Romulus" has to "Alien," and due to the fact that lead actor Cailee Spaeny ("Civil War") is in her mid-20s, there was a rampant rumor that her character would end up being Ripley's daughter, a character named Amanda previously portrayed in the "Alien: Isolation" video game. With all the legacy-quels that have given new lead characters ties to characters from the past, this wasn't an unreasonable assumption to make. Whether it's Rey's heritage in the new "Star Wars" trilogy or the estranged family of Egon Spengler in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," sequels that also serve as soft franchise reboots often try to create some kind of connective tissue between new and legacy characters.

However, taking that route isn't always necessary, and sometimes, a franchise might be better off venturing into new territory without forcing a connection to something familiar just for the sake of feeding some 'Member-berries to fans. Thankfully, director Fede Álvarez, who co-wrote the "Alien: Romulus" script with Rodo Sayagues, knows this, and he didn't create any contrived connections between Rain, whose last name is Carradine, and Sigourney Weaver's iconic Ellen Ripley. In fact, the distance between Rain and Ripley makes it so that another relationship can take the spotlight, strengthening Rain as a character, even as "Romulus" puts her within the familiar "Alien" formula with plenty of other franchise callbacks.

Early on in "Alien: Romulus," it's established that Rain is basically on her own. Accompanied by a quirky, somewhat glitchy android named Andy (an outstanding David Jonsson) who she lovingly refers to as her brother, Rain is desperate to get away from Weyland-Utani's Jackson Mining Colony (seen above), an industrial operation on a planet that's 65 light years away from Earth — where there is never any sunshine or daylight. Her parents died some time ago, and before her father died, he programmed Andy with one prime directive: take care of Rain. This makes them inseparable, and Rain doesn't hesitate to stop strangers from harassing Andy, whether it's because an android or simply because he's an older model that doesn't function as smoothly as he should. 

After Rain's hopes of making it off-planet to a brighter destination offering a farming program are dashed by the endlessly corrupt bureaucracy of Weyland-Yutani, she hesitantly agrees to help a group of friends get around their unfortunate circumstances by pulling off a heist. They've discovered a decommissioned ship just out of the planet's atmosphere, where there are cryo pods waiting to be hijacked and used to make an escape to a distant planet more than just a dream. Rain is far from enthusiastic about this plan for a multitude of reasons, especially the fact that it requires Andy to put himself in potential danger, due to his operating system being the key to actually gaining entry to the abandoned ship. 

The relationship between Rain and Andy is the driving force of the movie. Despite not sharing blood, they are family. That's what makes one of the more unique elements of "Alien: Romulus" hit that much harder, and if Rain was made to be Ripley's daughter, we likely wouldn't have had this meaningful, emotional dynamic. 

While aboard the ship, which is actually an abandoned space station called Romulus/Remus (named for the two different halves of the station, Rain's technical know-how leads her to use a small chip from a damaged android aboard the station to give Andy access to systems that only the science officer can access, to save her friends trapped in a lab with recently awakened facehuggers. After a couple of minutes required to reboot, Andy is suddenly speaking with a cold, British accent, and he's much more calculated, efficient, and knowledgeable about what's going on. The upgrade essentially began repairing any of the flaws in his old system. But with it came a disturbing change.

After engaging with the previous android science officer, Andy's prime directive is no longer taking care of Rain. Instead, the station's damaged android — played by a CGI-fueled recreation of Ian Holm as Rook, a different version of the "Alien" android Ash — has given Andy a new task: doing what's in the best interest of the company, meaning Weyland-Yutani. This change in Andy's drive (literally and figuratively) isn't just a hurdle for Rain and the rest of her friends to stay alive, especially if risking their lives poses no threat to the company's desire. It's also an upsetting betrayal that Rain has a hard time accepting, especially when she knows it's not a choice that Andy is making himself. 

But no matter how many times Andy effectively makes surviving infinitely more challenging than it needs to be, Rain can't help but want to protect Andy. Not unlike Ripley quickly takes to protecting Newt in "Aliens," she doesn't hesitate to keep those she cares about out of harm's way. She's not charging into danger with confidence, but she's willing to do what it takes to survive. Rain doesn't have to be Ripley's daughter to have some of her best traits, and "Alien: Romulus" is all the better for not shoehorning in that legacy thread. If only they took the same approach in reviving another part of the original "Alien."

"Alien: Romulus" is playing in theaters everywhere now.