The 'Alien' Franchise Is Back and Filled with Facehuggers in the Bloody First Trailer for 'Romulus' 

Watching the first trailer for Alien: Romulus, can anyone hear you scream? The answer to that question depends on where you are and who you're with, of course — we're presuming that you're not in space — but the sneak peek itself firmly wants to unsettle. There's an eerie derelict space station, screaming, blood and plenty of facehuggers in this initial look. Behind the lens, albeit producing rather than directing, Ridley Scott (Napoleon) is also involved.

Alien: Romulus is the seventh Alien film, and the ninth including the Alien vs Predator movies, and will arrive in August just over seven years since Alien: Covenant. While Scott originated the space-thriller saga back in 1979, then returned to it with 2012's Prometheus and 2017's Alien: Covenant, now Evil Dead, Don't Breathe and The Girl in the Spider's Web filmmaker Fede Álvarez is on helming duties. Based on the debut glimpse at the flick, however, there's no doubting that he's taking his cues from Scott's work.

The setup: when space colonisers go a-scavenging through an abandoned space station, they get more than they bargained for. Given Álvarez's background in horror, it comes as no surprise that he's tapping into the genre for his Alien effort, just as Scott did with his. Álvarez also wrote the screenplay, reteaming with Rodo Sayagues, who he worked with on Evil Dead and Don't Breathe — and who directed Don't Breathe 2.

Priscilla's Cailee Spaeny leads the group of folks doing battle with vicious extra-terrestrials, starring alongside David Jonsson (Rye Lane), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (Madame Web), Spike Fearn (Aftersun) and feature first-timer Aileen Wu.

Separate to Alien: Romulus, the Alien franchise is also expanding to TV, with a new series from Fargo's Noah Hawley in the works, as set three decades before the events of the first film. Featuring Sydney Chandler (Don't Worry Darling), Alex Lawther (Andor), Essie Davis (One Day) and Timothy Olyphant (Justified: City Primeval), it isn't expected until 2025.

Still, with all things Alien set to stalk across both the big and small screens, staying away from this saga isn't in anyone's futures.

Check out the first teaser trailer for Alien: Romulus below:

Alien: Romulus releases in cinemas Down Under on Thursday, August 15, 2024.