The director of Alien: Romulus Fede Alvarez initially wanted to shock the audience. His goal was to create an experience they'd never forget. He envisioned a sci-fi movie with a random title, starring children as the main characters, so viewers wouldn't suspect it was part of the Alien franchise. Then, at some point, the kids would walk into a room and discover the iconic egg.
Had the original plan for Alien: Romulus been given the green light, no one would have guessed they were watching an Alien movie. But honestly, the audience would never forget that moment of surprise.
In an interview with Collider, Fede Alvarez mentioned discussing the idea with Ridley Scott himself:
"We started talking about this film when Ridley was doing Covenant. That's when they started talking with Michael Schaefer, who was his right hand at the time. When I pitched this story, when they asked me what kind of movie I’d do, I said, 'Why don't we do it as a spin-off? We don't say Alien. We just put any random science fiction title. We show some kids and some planets somewhere…' It was this whole thing: 'And then suddenly they walk into a room, and there's a f*cking egg.' Imagine that audience at SXSW finding out on opening night, 30 minutes into the movie, that you're watching an Alien movie. That was the original plan."
But in the age of social media, the idea wouldn’t have worked as planned, since it would have been leaked the next day. Still, we're glad the film is officially named Alien, staying true to the legacy of Ridley Scott’s cult franchise.
